LB        ilil^-''-' 
30JI       ill 


f  ETfrHANGE 

AUG  201913 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern 
Concept  of  School  Discipline 


THESIS 


Presented  to   the  Faci  lty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the  Uni- 
versity OF   Pennsylvania   in   Partial   Fulfillment   of   the 
Requirements  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


BY 

QUINCY  A.  KUEHNER. 


J913 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern 
Concept  of  School  Discipline 


THESIS 


Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the  Uni- 
versity OF   Pennsylvania   in   Partial   Fulfillment   of  the 
Requirements  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


QUINCY  A.  KUEHNER. 


1913 


d 


I 


Abstract. 


Thesis:  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of 
School  Discipline 

Chapter  I.     The  Old  Method  of  Discipline. 

A  brief  account  of  the  use  of  the  rod  in  former  times  in  the 
Schoolroom. 

Chapter  II.     The  Factors  Which  Were  Operative  in   Bringing 
About  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline. 

(a)  Individuals. 

Presents  and  sums  up  the  arguments  for  milder  discipline 
found  in  the  writings  of  educational  thinkers  belonging  to  peri- 
ods prior  to  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

(b)  Movements 

Discusses  briefly  the  influence  of  social  and  political  changes 
upon  the  spirit  of  the  Schoolroom.  Finds  in  Rousseau's  writings 
the  foundation  of  the  nineteenth  century  educational  develop- 
ment. Shows  Rosseau's  influence  upon  Pestalozzi,  and  discusses 
the  influence  of  Pestalozzianism,  Herbartianism,  the  Froebelian 
movement,  the  Child  Study  movoment,  and  other  factors,  upon 
the  treatment  of  the  child. 

Chapter  III.     School  Discipline  in  the  Ught  of  Representative 
Educational  Thinkers  of  Recent  Times. 

Presents,  Compares  and  Summarizes  views  and  suggestions, 
on  school  discipline,  of  several  prominent  recent  educational 
thinkers,  and  relates  them  to  the  movements  with  which  they 
were  associated. 

Conclusion :  Presents  briefly  what  appears  to  be  most 
helpful  in  disciplining  a  school,  as  suggested  by  the  educational 
thinkers  consulted. 

Bibliography :  Contains  specific  references  to  the  works 
and  parts  of  works  consulted. 

263983 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept 
of  School  DiscipHne 

Introductory  Note 


No  discussion  of  educational  practice  can  be  considered 
complete  if  it  fails  to  take  into  account  the  question  of 
School  discipline.  The  belief  is  quite  common,  among  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  teaching,  that  this  question 
does  not  receive  the  amount  of  consideration  it  should,  in 
treatises  on  education,  in  institutes  and  in  other  organiza- 
tions for  the  improvement  of  teachers.  Probably  more 
teachers  leave  the  profession  because  of  failure  in  discipline 
than  for  any  other  single  reason.  Many  of  the  educational 
leaders  of  our  day  speak  very  earnestly  of  the  doctrine  of 
interest  and  ithe  love  of  children,  and  it  is  well  that  these 
highly  important  factors  are  properly  emphasized;  but  we 
must  not  lose  sig*ht  of  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  splendid 
theory,  practice  brings  us  face  to  face  with  pupils  who  need 
special  treatment  along  the  line  of  discipline.  The  teacher 
who  knows  the  practice  of  successful  masters  in  dealing  with 
such  pupils  will,  in  many  instances,  be  able  to  discipline  his 
school  more  successfully  than  he  could  without  this  knowl- 
edge. These  considerations  justify  a  study  of  school  dis- 
cipline, and  a  presentation  of  the  methods  of  discipline  sug- 
gested or  employed  by  several  recent  and  contemporary 
educational  thinkers. 


I 


.¥ 


;/ 


''^        Chapter  I 
The  Old  Method  of  Discipline 


m 


From  time  immemorial  corporal  puniishment  wias  the  chief 
means  resorted  to  in  disciplining  'a  school.  This  was  con- 
sidered the  proper  kind  of  punishment,  not  only  for  breaches 
of  whatever  general  rules  the  master  laid  down,  but  also  for 
failure  in  studying  the  lessons  assigned  and  in  doing  such 
other  tasks  as  the  master  required.  The  rod  was  the  in- 
strument by  means  of  which  the  average  master  sought  to 
maintain  discipline  in  his  school/'  Solomon  says  in  Proverbs, 
13  124: — "He  that  spareth  his  rod  hateth  his  son :  but  he  that 
loveth  him  chasteneth  him  betimes."  History  discloses  the 
fact  that  thi-s  maxim  has  been  considered  true  in  all  ages. 
Nations,  who  never  heard  of  Solomon's  maxim,  made  un- 
sparing use  of  corporal  punishment  upon  offenders,  young 
and  old,  in  school  and  out  of  school.  Nevertheless,  from  the 
earliest  times,  even  to  our  own  day,  the  schoolmaster  is  rep- 
resented as  the  "wielder  of  the  rod." 

We  read  that  Homer  used  to  be  whipped  iby  his  school- 
master, Toilus,  who~aTterward  got  the  title  Homeromastix. 
In  his  Comedy,  "The  Clouds,"  Aristophanes  makes  "Just 
Cause"  speak  of  the  old  Greek  education  and  discipline  in 
these  terms :  "In  the  first  place  it  was  incumbent  that  no 
one  should  hear  the  voice  "of  a  boy  uttering  a  syllable;  and 
next  that  those  from  the  same  quarter  of  the  town  should 
march  in  good  order  through  the  streets  to  the  school  of 
the  Harpmaster,  naked,  and  in  a  body,  icven  if  it  were  to 
snow  as  thick  as  meal.  Then  again,  their  master  would 
teach  them,  not  sitting  cross  legged,  to  learn  by  rote  a  song 
— raising  to  a  higher  pitch  the  harmony  which  our  fathers 
transmitted  to  us.  But  if  any  of  them  were  to  play  the  buf- 
foon, or  turn  any  quavers  like  these  difficult  turns  the  pres- 


8  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

ent  artists  make,  he  used  to  be  thrashed,  being  beaten  with 
many  blows  as  banishing  the  Muses." 

We  have  evidence,  also,  of  the  use  of  the  rod  by  Roman 
sc^hoolmasters.  Horace  says  in  the  second  of  his  Epistles : 
"When  I  was  little,  Orbilius,  my  master,  dictated  to  me  the 
poems  of  Livius ;  he  was  fond  of  flogging  me,  but  I  am  not 
dead  set  against  those  poems,  nor  think  they  'ought  to  be 
destroyed ;  but  that  they  should  be  considered  faultless  and 
beautiful  and  almost  perfect,  does  astonish  me." 

In  one  of  his  Epigrams  (Book  IX-LXVIII)  Martial  ad- 
dresses the  master  of  a  noisy  school  in  his  neighborhood  as 
follows:  "What  right  have  you  to  disturb  me,  abominable 
schoolmaster,  object  abhorred  alike  by  boys  and  girls? 
Before  the  crested  cocks  have  broken  silence,  you  begin  to 
roar  out  your  savage  scoldings  and  blows.  Not  with  louder 
noise  does  the  metal  resound  on  the  struck  anvil  when  the 
workman  is  fitting  a  lawyer  on  his  horse ;  nor  is  the  noise 
so  great  in  the  large  amphitheatre  when  the  conquering 
gladiator  is  applauded  by  his  partisans.  We,  your  neigh- 
bors, do  not  ask  you  to  allow  us  to  sleep  for  the  whole  night, 
for  it  is  but  a  small  matter  to  be  occasionally  awakened; 
but  to  be  kept  awake  all  night  is  a  heavy  affliction.  Dismiss 
your  scholars,  brawler,  and  take  as  much  for  keeping  quiet 
as  you  receive  for  making  a  noise."  In  another  Epigram 
to  a  Schoolmaster,  Martial  says  (Book  X-LXII)  "Let  the 
Scythian  scourge  with  its  formidable  thongs,  such  as  flog- 
ged Marsyas  of  Celaenae,  and  'the  terrible  cane,  the  school- 
master's sceptre,  be  laid  aside,  and  sleep  until  the  Ides  of 
October.  In  summer,  if  boys  preserve  their  health,  they  do 
enough." 

'  From  the  time  of  the  early  Greeks  and  Romans  up  to  the 
nineteenth  century  the  rod  was  used  unsparingly  in  all  coun- 
tries and  in  all  classes  of  schools.  Discipline  in  the  mon- 
asitic  schools  was  severe.  During  the  middle  ages  it  was  a 
universal  custom  for  male  and  female  scholars,  without  any 
hesitation  about  sex,  or  respect  to  age,  to  be  chastised  for 
school  oiTences.  The  custom  of  the  day  led  Abelard  to  use 
the  rod  on  his  charming  pupil,  Heloise.    She  allowed  herself 


4 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        9 

to  agree  to  it  so  willingly  that,  as  he  himself  writes,  "not 
schoolmaster's  indignation  but  love  often  moved  me  to  ad- 
mmister  correction." 

^  Until  toward  the  middle  of  the  last  century  discipline  in 
the  EngHsh  Secondary  schools  and  in  the  charity  schools 
was  very  severe.  Girls  as  well  as  boys  were  whipped,  even 
'on  their  naked  bodies,  for  the  most  trifling  offences.  We 
find  numerous  accounts  of  English  ladies  who  visited  their 
Charity  Schools  in  order  to  supervise,  and  even  to  give  ob- 
ject lessons  in  flogging  the  boys  and  girls.  In  many  of  these 
schools  the  rules  were  so  minute  and  strict  that  no  day 
passed  without  some  violations ;  and  the  proper  punishment 
for  offenders  was  the  rod.x 

Some  of  the  masters  of  Secondary  Schools  in  England 
have  had  a  proverbial  reputation  for  severity.  A  headmas- 
ter 'of  Westminster  used  to  say  that  his  rod  was  the  sieve 
which  sifted  the  wheat  of  scholarship  from  the  chaflf.  The 
master  of  another  English  school  had  a  firm  belief  in  the 
utility  of  the  rod.  One  of  the  undermasters  told  him  one 
day  that  a  certain  pupil  appeared  to  show  signs  of  genius. 
"Say  you  so,"  replied  the  master,  "then  begin  to  flog  him 
to-morrow  morning."  Floggings  have  always  been  admin- 
istered more  or  less  frequently  at  Rugby.  At  Eton  the 
usual  rod  consisted  of  three  long  birchen  twigs,  bound  with 
string  for  about  a  quarter  of  their  length,  and  a  charge  of 
half-a-guinea  for  birch  was  made  in  every  boy 'is  bill  whether 
he  was  flogged  or  not.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Eton 
boys  did  not  consider  a  flogging  disgraceful.  Some  of  them 
even  considered  it  to  be  a  mark  of  distinction  and  got  them- 
selves flogged  on  purpose. 

All  classes  had  to  submit  to  the  rod.  Samuel  Johnson, 
as  reported  by  Boswell,  studied  under  a  hard  master.  "He 
used,"  said  Johnson,  "to  beat  us  unmercifully;  and  he  did 
not  distinguish  between  ignorance  and  negligence;  for  he 
would  beat  a  boy  equally  for  not  knowing  a  thing,  as  for 
neglecting  to  know  it.  He  would  ask  a  boy  a  question,  and 
if  he  did  not  answer  it  he  would  beat  him,  without  consider- 
ing w'hether  he  had  an  opportunity  of  knowing  how  to  an- 


10 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 


swer  it."  Yet  Johnson,  evidently,  believed  in  flogging  as  a 
spur  to  studying.  For,  when  one  of  -his  friends  asked  him 
how  he  had  acquired  so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  he 
answered,  "My  master  whipped  me  very  well.  Without 
that,  Sir,  I  should  have  done  nothing."  We  have  said  that 
all  classes  had  to  submit  to  the  rod.  Johnson  was  a  genius 
from  the  poorer  class  of  society.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
George  III  was  asked  by  the  tutor  how  the  young  princes 
Avere  to  be  treated,  he  replied  promptly:  "If  they  deserve  it 
let  them  be  flogged.  Do  as  you  used  to  do  at  Westminster." 

What  has  been  said  of  the  use  of  corporal  punishment  in 
the  schools  of  England  is  equally  true  of  those  in  Scotland 
and  on  the  continent.  The-  instrument  in  use  in  Scotland 
was  more  commonly  "the  taws,"  a  long  strap  of  tolerably 
stout  leather,  with  ends  cut  into  strips.  In  Germany,  not 
only  the  boys,  but  youths  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
years,  were  subjected  to  the  rod;  and  there  was  a  time  when 
few  youths-eould  boast,  on  leaving  the  gymnasium,  of  never 
ha^nng  received  corporal  punishment. 

The  following  record  was  kept  by  a  Swabian  Schoolmas- 
ter named  Hauberle.  It  extends  over  fifty-one  years  and 
seven  months'  experience  as  a  teacher:  911,527  blows  with  a 
cane;  124,010  with  a  rod;  20,989  with  a  ruler;  136,715  with 
the  hand;  10,295  over  the  mouth;  7,905  boxes  on  the  ear; 
1,115,800  snaps  on  the  head;  22,763  nota  benes  with  Bible, 
Catechism,  hymnbook,  and  grammar;  jyy  times  boys  had  to 
kneel  on  peas;  613  times  on  triangular  blocks  of  wood; 
5,001  had  to  carry  a  timber  ware;  and  1,701  hold  the  rod 
high ;  the  last  two  being  punishments  of  his  own  invention. 
Of  the  blows  with  the  cane  800,000  were  for  Latin  vowels, 
and  76,000  of  those  with  the  rod  for  Bible  verses  and  hymns. 
He  used  a  scolding  vocabulary  of  over  3,000  terms  of  which 
one-third  were  of  his  own  invention. 

.  In  France  also  a  rigid  system  of  discipline  prevailed. 
Ravisius  Textor,  who  was  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris, 
in  one  of  his  epistles  writes  thus  concerning  the  treatment 
of  boys:  "If  they  offend,  i,f  they  are  detected  in  falsehood, 
if  they  slip  from  the  yoke,  if  they  murmur  against  it,  or  com- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        11 

plain  in  ever  iso  little  a  degree,  let  them  be  severely  w^^hipt. 
And  if  they  endeavor  by  mollifying  speeches  to  disarm  the 
preceptor's  anger,  let  all  their  words  be  given  to  the  wind." 

*  The  Jesuits  had  a  system  of  lay  punishment.  By  it  the 
priestly  teacher  was  kept  above  the  details  of  the  rod,  which, 
with  them  also  was  the  accepted  medicine  for  human  short- 
comings in  those  cases  where  persuasion  and  argument 
failed.  In  their  Constitutiones,  IV,  i6,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing: "Propter  eos,  qui  tam  in  diligentia  suis  studiis  adhi- 
benda  quam  in  iis,  quae  ad  bonos  mores  pertinent,  peccav- 
erint,  et  cum  quibus  sola  verba  bona  et  exhortationes  non 
sufHciunt,  Corrector,  qui  de  Societate  non  sit,  constituatur, 
qui  pureo'S  in  timore  contineat  et  eos,  quibus  id  opus  erit, 
quique  castigationis  hujusmodi  erunt  capaces,  castiget." 

It  appears  that  several  centuries  ago  pupils  were  sometimes 
flogged  in  school,  not  for  any  offence  or  omission  or  unwill- 
ingness or  incapacity  to  learn,  but  upon  the  abstract  theory 
that  they  ought  to  be  flogged.  Erasmus,  the  great  human- 
Jst,  says  that  'this  was  the  principle  upon  which  he  was 
flogged.  He  was  a  favorite  with  his  master,  who  had  good 
hopes  of  his  disposition  and  abilities,  but  flogged  him  to  see 
how  he  could  bear  the  pain.  The  result  was  that  the  rod 
nearly  spoiled  the  child ;  his  health  and  spirits  were  broken 
by  it  and  he  began  to  dislike  his  studies. 

*  As  has  been  already  intimated,  corporal  punishment  was 
formerly  administered  even  in  Colleges  and  Universities. 
We  read  that  Dr.  Potter,  of  Trinity  College,  flogged  a  col- 
legian, though  arrived  at  man's  state  and  wearing  a  sword 
by  his  side.  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  Memoir  of  Milton  says :  "I 
am  ashamed  to  relate  what  I  fear  is  true,  that  Milton  was 
one  of  the  last  students  in  either  University  that  suffered 
the  public  indignity  of  corporal  correction." 

.  A  century  or  more  ago,  school  discipHne  in  the  United 
States  was  hardly  less  severe  than  in  European  Countries. 
Indeed,  the  teacher,  who  in  our  day,  should  treat  his  pupils 
like  many  were  treated  in  those  times,  would  be  held  up  to 
scorn  by  the  press  and  might  count  himself  fortunate  if  he 
were  not  prosecuted  by  some  society  for  the  prevention  of 


'^^  wer< 

L 


12  The  Evolution  of  Ibe  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

cruelty  to  children.     With  us,  too,  most  masters  knew  of 
no  way  of  imparting  knowledge  but  by  the  rod. 

The  following  quotation  from  the  "Life  of  Josiah 
Quincy/'  gives  a  picture  of  school,  such  as  it  was  often  found 
in  our  country,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Speaking  of  his  experience  as  a  pupil  at  Phillips  Academy, 
from  the  age  of  six  to  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  Quincy 
says :  "The  discipline  of  the  Academy  was  severe  and  to  a 
child,  as  I  was,  disheartening.  The  Preceptor  was  distant 
and  haugthy  in  his  manners.  I  have  no  recolleotion  of  his  ever 
having  shown  any  consideration  for  my  childhood.  Fear 
was  the  only  impression  I  received  from  his  treatment  of 
myself  and  others.  I  was  put  at  once  into  the  First  Book 
of  Cheever's  Accidence,  and  obliged,  with  the  rest  of  my 
classmates,  to  get  by  heart  passages  of  a  book  which  I  could 
not,  from  my  years,  possibly  understand."  He  says,  fur- 
ther, that  he  had  to  sit  four  hours  in  the  morning  and  four 
hours  in  the  afternoon  studying  lessons  he  did  not  under- 
stand ;  that  he  went  over  Cheever's  Accidence  about  twenty 
times  before  mastering  it ;  and  that  for  the  first  four  years 
of  his  life  at  the  Academy  he  was  tormented  with  studies 
not  suited  to  his  age. 

In  other  lands  discipline  was  just  as  severe  as  in  those 
already  mentioned.  A  pedagogical  maxim  of  the  Egyptians 
was,  "A  boy's  ears  are  on  his  back;  he  hears  when  he  is 
beaten."  Reprimands  were  also  used  as  a  corrective,  and  a 
youth  could  be  punished  by  confinement  to  the  temple  for 
three  months.  In  China  the  bamboo  has  always  been  ap- 
plied frequently  and  mercilessly.  Although,  owing  to  the 
unassertiveness  of  the  pupils,  discipline  in  India  is  somewhat 
milder  than  in  some  other  countries,  yet  pupils  are  frequent- 
ly beaten  upon  the  back  with  a  rope  or  a  split  bamboo. 

Discipline  among  the  Jews  was  always  rigorous,  especially 
with  the  younger  children.  This  is  proved  by  many  pas- 
sages in  the  Bible :  "Withhold  not  correction  from  the  child 
for  if  thou  beatest  him  with  the  rod,  he  shall  not  die.  Thou 
shalt  beat  him  with  a  rod  and  shalt  deliver  his  soul  from 


:^ 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        13 

hell."     Again,  "Chasten  thy  son  while  there  is  hope,  and 

let  not  thy  soul  spare  for  his  crying." 

We  have  given  sufficient  evidence  to  verify  what  has  al- 
ready been  stated,  that  in  former  times,  corporal  punish- 
ment was  the  chief  means  by  which  the  average  master 
sought  to  maintain  discipline  in  his  school.  Such  individual 
examples  as  have  been  cited  do,  at  least  in  some  measure, 
indicate  the  practice  of  the  time  in  which  they  occurred. 
The  numerous  protests  against  this  harshness  and  cruelty, 
which  shall  be  presented,  presently,  serve  still  further  as 
evidence  of  the  extent  to  which  it  was  practiced.  The  reader 
who  is  looking  for  additional  evidence  on  the  question  of 
corporal  punishment  will  find  it  in  Barnard's  Journail 
of  Education,  or  in  shorter  works,  such  as  Cooper's 
"Flagellation  and  the  Flagellants"  and  Compayre's  "His- 
tory of  Pedagogy." 


Chapter  II 

Some  Factors  Operative  in  Bringing  About  the  Modern; 
Concept  of  Discipline 

(a)  Individuals 


Already  in  ancient—tiiofiSr  we  find  some  Yoici^s  .a^raiasl. 
severity Jn_5jah£LQl„discipline..  In  the  'TDaws"  Plato  says: 
"A  free  mind  ought  to  learn  nothing  as  a  slave.  The  lesson 
that  is  made  to  enter  the  mind  by  force,  will  not  remain 
there.  Then  use  no  violence  toward  children,  the  rather 
cause  them  to  learn  while  playing."  In  his  "Discourse  on 
the  Training  of  Children"  EJutacch.  says  "Children  are  to  be 
won  to  follow  liberal  studies  hjL>£2diQJDtatiiHis_aind  rational 
motives,  and  on  no  account  to  be  forced  thereto  by  whip- 
ping or  any  other  contumelious  punishments."  He  says  fur- 
ther that  children  are  dulled  and  discouraged  from  the 
performance  of  their  tasks,  partly  by  reason  of  the  smart  of 
their  stripes,  and  partly  because  of  the  disgrace  thereby 
inflicted. 


14  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School'Discipline 

On  the  same  subject,  Quintilian,  in  his  "Institutes  of 
Oratory,"  says :  "But  that  boys  shouW  suffer  corporal  pun- 
ishment, though  it  be  a  received  custom,  I  by  no  means 
approve ;  first,  because  it  is  a  disgrace,  and  a  punishment  for 
slaves,  and  in  reaHty  (as  will  be  evident  if  you  imagine  the 
age  changed)  an  affront;  secondly,  because,  if  a  boy's  dis- 
position be  so  abject  as  not  to  be  amended  by  reproof,  he 
will  be  hardened,  like  the  worst  of  slaves,  even  to  stripes; 
and  lastly,  because,  if  one  who  regularly  exacts  his  tasks  be 
with  him,  there  will  not  be  the  least  need  of  any  such  chas- 
tisement." Quinjilian  closes  his  discussion  of  corporal  pun- 
ishment with  a  sentence  which  would  seem  to  belong  to  the 
twentieth,  rather  than  to  the  first  century  A.  D.  He  says : 
y*It  will  be  sufficient  to  intimate  that  no  man  should  be 
allowed  too  much  authority  over  an  age  so  weak  and  so 
unable  to  resist  ill-treatment." 

Anselm  (cir  1033-1109),  called  the  father  of  Scholasticism, 
prptested  against  the  harsh  discipline  in  the  schools  of  his 
time.  "Day  and  night,"  said  an  abbot  to  him,  "we  do  noit 
cease  to  chastise  the  children  confided  to  our  care,  and  they 
grow  worse  and  worse."  Anselm  replied,  "Indeed !  you  do 
not  cease  to  chastise  them !  And  when  they  are  grown  up, 
what  will  they  become  ?  Idiotic  and  stupid.  A  fine  educa- 
tion that  which  makes  brutes  of  men!  If  you  were  to 
plant  a  tree  in  your  garden,  and  were  to  enclose  it  on  all 
sides  so  that  it  could  not  extend  its  branches,  what  would 
you  find  when,  at  the  end  of  several  years,  you  set  it  free 
from  its  bands  ?  A  tree  whose  branches  would  be  bent  and 
crooked ;  and  would  it  not  be  your  fault,  in  having  so  unrea- 
sonably confined  it  ? 

Gerson  (1363-1429)  was,  for  some  time.  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Paris.  In  his  work,  "De  Parvulis  ad 
Christum  Trahendis,"  he  demands  of  teachers  patience  and 
tenderness.  He  condemns  corporal  punishment  and  says: 
"Above  all  else  let  the  teacher  make  an  effort  to  be  a  father 
to  his  pupils.  Let  him  never  be  angry  with  them.  Let  him 
always  be  simple  in  his  instruction,  and  relate  to  his  pupils 
what  is  wholesome  and  agreeable." 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         15 

Vittorino  da  Feltre  (i  378-1446)  was  one  of  the  early 
Humanists.  After  spending  nearly  twenty  years,  as  learner 
and  teacher,  at  the  University  of  Padua  he  opened  a  school 
at  Mantua.  This  school  offered  a  striking  contrast  to  most 
of  the  other  schools  of  the  time.  In  his  methods  Vittorino 
was  influenced  by  the  treatises  of  Plutarch  and  Quintilian, 
from  which  we  have  already  quoted.  These  two  treatises 
had  just  been  discovered  in  their  complete  form  and  were 
eagerly  read  by  the  scholars  of  the  time. 

Vittorino's  school  house  was  called  I^a  Giocosa — ^the 
Pleasant  House;  and  was  decorated  with  frescoes  of  chil- 
dren at  play.  Like  Gerson,  Vittorino  definitely  held  him- 
self the  father  of  his  scholars.  There  is  some  evidence  to 
show  that  it  was  this  characteristic  of  Vittorino  that  later 
attracted  Pestalozzi. 

Vittorino's  singleness  of  purpose  was  felt  in  his  school. 
He  lived  a  common  life  with  his  scholars  in  meals,  games 
and  excursions.  He  shared  their  pleasures  and  interests  and 
thus  harsh  punishment  among  his  sixty  or  seventy  boys 
was  not  needed.  Corporal  punishment  was  very  seldom 
resorted  to,  and  then  only  after  deliberation  and  as  the  al- 
ternative to  expulsion. 

Vittorino  always  encouraged  the  healthy  activity  of 
childhood  and  cultivated  skill  in  games  in  all  his  pupils. 
Regular  exercise  in  all  conditions  of  weather  he  regarded 
as  the  foundation  of  health  and  health  as  the  first  necessity 
of  mental  progress.  In  spirit  and  in  practice  the  Mantuan 
school  of  Vittorino  was  far  better  than  the  narrowed  and 
hardened  Humanism  which  later  aroused  the  scorn  of  Mon- 
taigne. 

A  contemporary  of  Vittorino,  and  also  one  of  the  early 
Humanists,  was  Aeneas  Sylvius  Piiccolominii,  afterwards 
Pius  II.  In  the  year  1450,  he  wrote  a  treatise,  entitled  *'De 
Liberorum  Educatione."  In  this  treatise  we  find  the  follow- 
ing with  reference  to  school  discipline:  "A  conceit  of 
knowledge  in  a  master  is  only  less  injurious  to  his  efficiency 
than  looseness  of  character.  Bad  example  may  easily  lead 
to  habits  which  no  efforts  in  later  life  will  enable  a  man  to 


16         The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

shake  off.  The  master,  therefore,  must  be  intellectually 
aible  and  sincere,  of  wide  experience  and  of  sound  morals. 
In  demeanor  he  should  avoid  austerity  without  falling  into 
vulgar  familiarity.  A  master  thus  qualified  will  be  com- 
petent to  fulfill  his  duty,  which  is  to  fence  in  the  growing 
mind  with  wise  and  noble  precept  and  example,  as  a  careful 
gardener  hedges  round  a  newly  planted  tree.  For  in  right 
training  of  the  boy  lies  the  secret  of  integrity  of  the  man. 
However,  this  training  must  be  enforced  by  friendly,  but 
effective,  authority,  and  should  require  no  recourse  to  the 
rod.  For  as  Quintilian  and  Plutarch  taught,  a  boy  must  be 
wonto  learning  by  persuasive  earnestness  and  not  be  driven 
to  it  like  a  slave.  For  while  pain  must  never  degenerate 
into  flattery,  so  on  the  other  hand  correction  which  takes 
the  form  of  personal  indignity  gives  rise  to  hatred  for 
teachers  and  subject  alike.  In  fine  the  master,  as  Juvenal 
says,  does  in  reality  exercise  a  parental  function  towards  his 
pupil  and  should  not  be  satisfied  unless  he  attract  a  corre- 
sponding filial  affection." 

Another  of  the  early  Humanists,  Battista  Guarino,  in  his 
treatise,  "De  Ordine  Docendi  et  Studendi,"  says,  concern- 
ing discipline :  "The  master  must  not  be  prone  to  flogging 
as  an  inducement  to  learning.  It  is  an  indignity  to  a  free- 
born  youth,  and  its  infliction  renders  learning  itself  repul- 
sive, and  the  mere  dread  of  it  provokes  to  unworthy  evas- 
sions  on  the  part  of  timorous  boys.  The  scholar  is  thus 
morally  and  intellectually  injured,  the  master  is  deceived, 
and  the  discipline  fails  of  its  purpose.  The  haibitual  instru- 
ment of  the  teacher  must  be  kindness,  though  punishment 
should  be  retained  as  it  were  in  the  background  as  a  final 
resource." 

The  views  just  given  represent  the  thought  and  practice 
(of  some  of  the  leading  thinkers  and  teachers  in  the  first 
century  of  Humanism.  We  know  that  punishments  were 
savage  in  the  common  schools  of  Petrarch's  day,  and  again 
that  they  were  hardly  less  so  when  Erasmus  was  a  boy. 
^^etrarch  said:  "Let  those  teach  who  like  disorder,  noise 
and  squalor;  who  rejoice  in  the  screams  of  the  victims  as 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         17 

the  rod  falls  gaily,  who  are  not  happy  unless  they  can  terrify, 
flog  and  torture."  Erasmus,  to  whom  we  have  already 
referred,  and  whom  we  shall  presently  have  occasion  to 
quote,  likewise  vigorously  denounced  the  stern  discipline 
common  in  his  day.  Nevertheless,  the  examples  just  given-^ 
show  that  some  of  the  early  humanists  not  only  contem- 
plated, but  actually  exhibited,  an  educational  practice  in 
which  the  capacity  of  the  teacher  and  the  inherent  attrac- 
tiveness of  his  subjects  made  the  ideal  discipline  both  pos- 
sible and  efifective. 

Desiderius  Erasimu^,.(i467-i536)  was  the  most  famous  of 
all  the  Humiamsts.  His  woi^Jtouche.d..-eY,ery  phase  of  the 
educational  bearing  of  tHe  new  learning.  His  influence  was 
confined  to  no  country.  This  influence  was  wielded,  partly, 
by  his  own  personal  activities,  and  to  a  greater  extent  by  his 
work  as  a  publicist.  Few  men  have  published  more,  and  no 
man  has  seen  his  writings  so  widely  disseminated  in  his  own 
lifetime. 

At  another  place  we  have  stated,  when  speaking  of 
Erasmus,  that,  in  his  case,  the  use  of  the  rod  almost  spoiled 
the  child.  The  following  is  what  he  himself  says  in  his^^ 
tract,  "Of  the  Education  of  Youth" :  "You  may  kill  some 
children  before  you  can  make  them  one  whit  better  by 
beating;  and  yet  at  the  same  time  with  good  words  and 
good  usage,  you  may  do  what  you  please  with  them.  Of 
this  temper  I  own  myself  to  have  been  when  a  boy.  And 
my  master  of  whom  I  was  a  great  favorite,  because  he  was 
pleased  to  have  conceived  great  hopes  of  me,  having  a 
mind  to  get  a  thorough  knowledge  of  my  disposition,  did 
therefore  make  a  trial  how  I  could  bear  a  sound  whipping. 
Upon  this  a  fault  was  cooked  up  of  which  (God  knov^)  I 
never  so  much  as  dreamed;  and  accordingly  I  suffered  the 
discipHne  of  the  school.  Immediately  I  lost  all  manner  of 
relish  to  my  studies ;  and  this  usage  did  so  damp  my  spirits 
that  it  almost  broke  my  heart.  From  hence  we  may  see 
that  these  illiterate  butchers  (to  give  them  no  better  term) 
ruin  many  a  hopeful  lad.  These  conceited,  morose,  drunk- 
en, cruel  creatures,  exercise  this,  their  severity,  as  a  piece 


18  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

of  pleasure ;  and  from  another's  pain  take  great  satisfaction. 
They  are  indeed  fitter  for  the  businefss  of  a  butcher  or  a 
hangman,  than  to  be  instructors  of  youth.  And  it  is  an  ob- 
servation not  ill  grounded  that  the  most  ignorant  school- 
masters are  generally  the  best  at  this  exercise.  For  what  is 
done  in  their  schools,  and  in  what  do  they  spend  their  days? 
Nothing  but  noisy  stripes  and  chiding^s." 

Erasmus  argued  for  the  merciful  and  gentle  way  of  edu- 
cation. He  judged  of  human  nature  according  to  his  own 
share  of  it;  and  therefore,  stood  for  the  milder  and  kinder 
way  of  teaching.  He  advised  a  study  of  the  child  and  in- 
sisted upon  the  personal  care  and  direction  of  his  studies. 
He  recognized  the  function  of  the  mother,  the  importance 
of  play  and  of  exercise,  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  educa- 
tion vitally  in  touch  with  the  life  of  the  times.  Many  of  his 
observations  on  method,  and  on  other  matters  pertaining  to 
education,  possess  permanent  value. 

Another  educational  writer  who  deserves  a  place  in  this 
discussion  is  the  English  Humanist,  Roger  Ascham  (1515- 
1568).  His  treatise  on  education,  entitled  "The  Scholemas- 
ter,"  from  which  we  shall  presently  quote,  was  not  publish- 
ed until  1 571,  three  years  after  Ascham's  death.  The 
''Schoolmaster"  contains  reform  ideas  both  as  to  the  sub- 
ject of  method  and  as  to  the  matter  of  discipHne.  In  Book 
I,  of  this  treatise,  Ascham  discusses  the  bringing  up  of 
youth ;  and  here  he  speaks,  among  other  things,  of  the  gen- 
eral manner  and  temper  in  which  the  instruction  of  youth 
ought  to  be  conducted.  He  wishes  that  "a  gentle  nature  be 
in  a  schoolmaster"  and  declares  that  "love  is  fitter  than 
fear,  gentleness  better  than  heating  to  bring  up  a  child 
rightly  in  learning." 

He  says :  "With  the  common  use  of  teaching  and  beating 
in  common  schools  of  England,  I  will  not  greatly  contend ; 
which  if  I  did,  it  were  but  a  small  grammatical  controversy 
neither  belonging  to  heresy  nor  treason,  nor  greatly  touch- 
ing God  nor  the  prince,  although  in  very  deed,  in  the  end, 
the  good  or  ill  bringing  up  of  children,  doth  as  much  serve 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        19 

to  the  good  or  ill  service  of  God,  our  prince  and  our  whole 
country,  as  any  one  thing  doth  beside. 

''I  do  gladly  agree  with  all  good  schoolmasters  in  these 
points;  to  have  children  brought  to  good  perfectness  in 
learning,  to  all  honesty  in  manners ;  to  have  all  faults  rightly 
amended,  to  have  every  vice  severely  corrected.  But  for  the 
order  and  way  that  leadeth  rightly  to  these  points  we  some- 
what differ;  for  commonly  many  schoolmasters,  some  as  I 
have  seen,  more  as  I  have  heard  tell,  be  of  so  crooked  a  na- 
ture, as  when  they  meet  with  a  hardwitted  scholar,  they 
rather  break  him  than  bow  him,  rather  mar  him  than  mend 
him.  For  when  the  schoolmaster  is  angry  with  some  other 
matter,  then  will  he  soonest  fall  to  beat  his  scholar;  and 
though  he  himself  should  be  punished  for  his  folly ;  yet  must 
he  beat  some  scholar  for  his  pleasure,  though  there  be  no 
cause  for  him  to  do  so,  nor  yet  fault  in  the  scholar  to  de- 
serve so. 

"These  ye  will  say,  be  fond  schoolmasters,  and  few  they  be 
that  be  found  to  be  such.  They  be  fond,  indeed,  but  surely 
over  many  such  be  found  everywhere.  But  this  will  I  say, 
that  even  the  wisest  of  your  great  beaters  do  as  oft  punish 
nature  as  they  do  correct  faults.  Yea,  many  times,  the  bet- 
ter nature  is  sorer  punished.  For  if  one  by  quickness  of  wit 
take  his  lesson  readily,  another  by  hardness  of  wit  taketh  it 
not  so  speedily ;  the  first  is  always  commended,  the  other  is 
commonly  punished ;  when  a  wise  schoolmaster  should  rath- 
er discreetly  consider  the  right  disposition  of  both  their  na- 
tures, and  not  so  much  weigh  what  either  of  them  is  able  to 
do  now  as  what  either  of  them  is  likely  to  do  hereafter.  For 
this  I  know  not  only  by  reading  of  books  in  my  study,  but 
also  by  experience  of  life  abroad  in  the  world,  that  those 
which  be  commonly  the  wisest,  the  best  learned,  the  best 
men  also,  when  they  be  old,  were  never  commonly  the  quick- 
est of  wit  when  they  were  young." 

Montaigne  (i 533-1 592)  scorned  the  narrow  Humanism 
of  his  time.  In  his  essays,  "Of  Pedantry"  and  "Of  the  Edu- 
cation of  Children"  he  anticipates  some  modern  educational 


20  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

-ideas.    One  of  these  is  that  harsh  methods  of  discipHne  and 
instruction  do  not  produce  the  best  results. 

In  the  essay,  "Of  the  Afifection  of  Fathers  to  Their  Chil- 
dren," Montaigne  says,  "I  condemn  all  violence  in  the  edu- 
cation of  a  gentle  soul  that  is  designed  for  honor  and  liberty. 
I  am  of  the  opinion  that  what  can  not  be  done  by  reason, 
prudence  and  tact  is  never  to  be  effected  by  force — I  have 
never  observed  other  effects  of  whipping  than  to  render 
children  more  cowardly  or  more  wilful  and  obstinate." 

In  his  essay  "Of  Anger"  Montaigne  says:  "There  is  no 
passion  that  so  turns  men  from  their  right  judgment  as  an- 
ger. No  one  would  demur  at  punishing  with  death  a  judge 
who  should  condemn  a  criminal  on  account  of  his  own 
wrath.  Why,  then,  should  parents  and  teachers  be  allowed 
to  whip  children  in  their  anger?  It  is  then  no  longer  cor- 
rection, but  revenge.  *  *  *  i^et  us  defer  the  business 
(of  punishment)  so  long  as  the  pulse  beats  quick.  Things 
will  appear  otherwise  when  we  are  calm  and  cool." 

In  the  essay  "Of  the  Education  of  Children,"  Montaigne 
proposes  a  method  for  training  the  understanding  and  the 
judgment  in  stead  of  merely  burdening  the  memory  as  was 
done  in  the  schools  of  his  day.  Concerning  discipline  he 
says:  "This  method  of  education  ought  to  be  carried  on 
with  a  firm  gentleness,  quite  contrary  to  the  practice  of  our 
pedants,  who,  instead  of  tempting  and  alluring  children  to 
letters,  present  nothing  before  them  but  rods  and  ferules, 
horror  and  cruelty.  Away  with  this  violence !  Away  with 
this  compulsion!  than  which  I  certainly  believe  nothing 
more  dulls  and  degenerates  a  well  born  nature  *  *  * 
The  strict  government  of  most  of  our  Colleges  has  always 
displeased  nie  *  *  *  They  are  mere  jails  where  im- 
prisoned youths  are  taught  to  be  debauched  by  being  pun- 
ished for  it  before  they  do  so.  Do  but  come  in  when  they 
are  about  their  lesson,  and  you  shall  hear  nothing  but  the 
outcries  of  boys  under  execution,  and  the  thundering  of 
pedagogues,  drunk  with  fury.  A  very  pretty  way  this  to 
tempt  these  tender  and  timorous  souls  to  love  their  book ! 
leading  them  on  with  a  furious  countenance,  and.  a  rod  in 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         21 

hand!  A  wretched  and  pernicious  way!  How  much  more 
decent  would  it  be  to  see  their  classes  strewed  with  leaves 
and  flowers,  than  with  bloody  stumps  of  birch !  Were  it  left  ^ 
to  my  ordering  I  should  paint  the  school  with  pictures  of 
joy  and  gladness,  Flora  and  the  Graces,  as  the  philosopher 
Speusippus  did  his ;  that  where  their  profit  is  they  mig'ht 
there  have  their  pleasure  too." 

From  the  views  of  Montaigne,  a  social  reahst,  we  turn  to 
Wolfgang  von  Ratich  (Ratke),  a  sense  realist.  Ratke  (1571- 
1635)  was  the  pioneer  of  the  modern  inductive  school,  the 
predecessor  of  Comenius.  He  thought  that  the  remedy  for 
many  of  the  social  evils  existing  in  his  time  was  to  be  found 
in  an  improved  system  of  schools — sl  system  improved  in  u-- 
respect  both  of  the  substance  and  method  of  teaching.  As 
a  result  of  this  belief  he  stated  and  practiced  a  number  of 
reform  principles  of  education.  One  of  these  principles 
wais,  "Everything  without  violence."  He  says,  "The  young 
should  not  be  beaten  to  make  them  learn  or  for  not  having 
learnt.  It  is  compulsion  and  stripes  that  set  young  people 
against  studying.  Boys  are  often  beaten  for  not  having 
learnt ;  ibut  they  would  have  learnt  had  they  been  well 
taught.  The  human  understanding  is  so  formed  that  it  has 
pleasure  in  receiving  what  it  should  retain;  and  this  pleasure 
3^ou  destroy  by  your  harshness.  Where  the  master  is  skill- 
ful and  judicious,  the  boys  will  take  to  him  and  to  their  les- 
sons. Folly  lurks  indeed  in  the  heart  of  the  child  and  must 
be  driven  out  with  the  rod ;  but  not  by  the  teacher." 

From  Ratke  it  is  in  order  to  proceed  to  a  discussion  of 
John  Amos  Comenius  (i 592-1670).  The  subject  of  school 
discipline  he  treats  in  Chapter  XXVI  of  the  "Great  Didac- 
tic." According  to  Comenius,  the  end  of  discipline  is  not 
the  punishment  of  a  transgressor  for  a  fault  he  has  commit- 
ted, but  the  prevention  of  the  recurrence  of  the  fault.  The 
master  must  execute  punishment  without  passion,  anger  or 
hatred,  but  in  such  a  way  that  the  boy  under  discipline  will  ^^ 
recognize  that  it  is  done  for  his  good.  In  the  matter  of 
studies,  discipline  must  not  be  severe ;  in  that  of  morals  it 
should  be.     Subjects,  rightly  arranged  and  taught,  them- 


22  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

selves  attract  and  allure  the  great  majority  of  pupils ;  and  if 
they  are  not  rightly  taug'ht,  the  fault  is  in  the  teacher,  not 
the  pupil.  The  teacher  who  cannot  allure  to  study  by  skill, 
will  succeed  still  more  poorly  iby  the  application  of  force. 
Stripes  and  blows  will  not  create  a  love  of  literature,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  will  produce  weariness  and  disgust. 

Xa-oommand  obedience  and  respect  .the  teacher-  must 
himself,  in  his  own  person  and  conduct,  be  an  example  of  all 
Tie  requires  from  others ;  and  must  have  a  genuine  fatherly 
concern  for  his  pupils.  He  must  carefully  and  patiently  do 
all  in  his  power  before  utterly  despairing  of  any  pupil.  If 
gentler  methods  fail  more  violent  remedies  must  be  applied. 
"Extrema  in  Extremis." 

In  speiaking  of  individuals  who  either  by  word  or  exam- 
ple, or  iboth,  stood  for  a  milder  form  of  discipline  and  gen- 
tler methods  of  teaching,  mention  must  be  made  of  St. 
Cyran  (i 581-1643),  who  was  the  founder  of  the  Port  Royal 
Schools.  Although  the  work  of  these  schools  and  the 
spread  of  their  educational  doctrines  were  due  rather  to 
Nicole,  Lancelot,  Arnauld,  Coustel,  Rollin,  and  others,  the 
spirit  in  which  they  were  conducted,  as  long  as  they  existed 
(1637-1661),  w^as  largely  the  spirit  of  their  founder. 

St.  Cyran  usually  reduced  all  that  ought  to  be  done  with 
children  to  three  things:  to  speak  little,  to  bear  much,  to 
pray  still  more :  The  teacher  was  to  work  more  by  the  si- 
lent forces  of  love  and  example  than  by  precept.  To  gain 
the  affection  of  children  it  was  worth  while  to  share  in  their 
amusement.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  grave  and  austere  St. 
Cyran  played  ball  with  little  ones  of  seven  years  old.  Pun- 
ishment, especially  corporal  punishment,  was  to  be  used 
only  in  the  last  resort  when  patience  and  expostulation  and 
all  gentler  means  had  failed;  and  even  then  not  without 
fervent  prayer.  St.  Cyran  said  that,  to  punish  without  pre- 
vious prayer  was  to  forget  that  everything  depended  upon 
the  blessing  of  God,  and  upon  His  grace,  which  we  must  try 
to  draw  down  upon  the  children  by  our  patience.  Both  in 
spirit  and  in  practice  the  Port  Royal  Schools  were  singularly 
in  advance  of  their  time. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         23 

We  tjim.,3iow-4o~4iie -English  philosopher ,  John  Locke 
(1632^704),  According  to  him  the  process  of  education 
consists  in  a  thorough  discipline  of  the  body  and  of  the 
mind.  His  educated  man  is  one  who  possesses  "a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body."  To  attain  this  end,  authority  is  re- 
quired, either  the  authority  of  the  parent  or  the  master,  the 
latter  preferably  a  tutor.  But  Locke  was  opposed  to  the 
severity  v^ith  which  this  authority  was  commonly  exercised 
in  his  day.  The  following  quotations  taken  from  his 
''Thoughts  Concerning  Education,"  show  his  attitude  to- 
ward corporal  punishment. 

"The  usual  lazy  and  short  way,  chastisement,  and  the  rod, 
which  is  the  only  instrument  of  government  that  tutors 
generally  know,  or  even  think  of,  is  the  most  unfit  of  any  to 
be  used  in  education. 

"This  kind  of  punishment  contributes  not  at  all  to  the 
mastery  of  our  natural  propensity  to  indulge  corporal  and 
present  pleasures,  and  to  avoid  pain  at  lany  rate ;  but  rather 
encourages  it ;  and  thereby  strengthens  that  in  us,  which  is 
the  root  from  whence  spring  all  vicious  actions  and  the  ir- 
regularities of  life.  From  what  other  motive,  but  of  sensual 
pleasure  and  pain  does  a  child  act  who  drudges  at  his  book 
against  his  inclination,  or  abstains  from  eating  unwhole- 
some fruit,  that  he  takes  pleasure  in,  only  out  of  fear  of 
whipping?  He  in  this  only  prefers  the  greater  corporal 
pleasure  or  avoids  the  greater  corporal  pain.  And  what  is 
it  to  govern  his  actions  and  direct  his  conduct  by  such  ac- 
tions as  these?  What  is  it,  I  say,  but  to  cherish  that  princi- 
ple in  him  which  it  is  our  business  to  root  out  and  destroy. 
And,  therefore,  I  can  not  think  any  correction  useful  to  a 
child,  where  the  shame  of  suffering  for  having  done  amiss, 
does  not  work  more  upon  him  than  the  pain. 

"This  sort  of  correction  naturally  breeds  an  aversion  to 
that  which  it  is  the  tutor's  business  to  create  a  liking  to. 
How  obvious  it  is  to  observe  that  children  come  to  hate 
things  which  were  at  first  acceptable  to  them,  when  they 
find  themselves  whipped,  and  chid,  and  teased  about  them. 
And  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  in  them ;  when  grown  men 


24  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        ^ 

would  not  be  reconciled  to  anything  by  such  ways.  Who  is 
there  that  would  not  be  disgusted  with  any  innocent  recrea- 
tion, in  itself  indifferent  to  him,  if  he  should  with  blows,  or 
ill  language  be  hauled  to  it,  when  he  had  no  mind?  or  be 
constantly  so  treated,  for  some  circumstance  in  his  applica- 
tion to  it  ?  This  is  natural  to  be  so.  Offensive  circumstances 
ordinarily  infect  innocent  things,  which  they  are  joined 
with. 

"Such  a  sort  of  slavish  discipline  makes  a  slavish  temper. 
The  child  submits  and  dissembles  obedience,  whilst  the  fear 
of  the  rod  hangs  over  him ;  but  when  that  is  removed,  and 
by  being  out  of  sight,  he  can  promise  himself  impunity,  he 
gives  the  greater  scope  to  his  natural  inclination ;  which  by 
this  way  is  not  at  all  altered,  but  on  the  contrary  heightened 
and  increased  in  him;  and  after  such  restraint,  breaks  out 
usually  with  the  more  violence ;  or, 

"If  severity  carried  to  the  highest  pitch  does  prevail,  and 
works  a  cure  upon  the  present  unruly  distemper,  it  is  often 
bringing  in  the  room  of  it,  worse  and  more  dangerous  dis- 
ease, by  breaking  the  mind,  and  then  in  the  place  of  a 
disorderly  young  fellow,  you  have  a  low-spirited  moped 
creature ;  who,  however,  with  his  unnatural  sobriety  he  may 
please  silly  people,  who  commend  tame  inactive  children, 
because  they  make  no  noise,  nor  give  them  any  trouble; 
yet,  at  last  will  probably  prove  as  uncomfortable  a  thing  to 
his  friends,  as  he  will  be,  all  his  life,  a  useless  thing  to  himself 
and  others. 

"Beating  then,  and  all  other  sorts  of  slavish  and  corporal 
punishments,  are  not  the  discipline  fit  to  be  used  in  the  edu- 
cation of  those  who  would  have  wise,  good  and  ingenuous 
men;  and,  therefore,  very  rarely  to  be  applied,  and  that  only 
in  great  occasions,  and  cases  of  extremity."  According  to 
Ivocke  obstinacy  is  probably  the  only  fault  which  justifies 
beating. 
^  After  this  somewhat  extended  quotation  from  Locks,  it 
/  will  be  interesting  to  present  the  views,  on  corporal  punish- 
ment, expressed  by  Charles  Hoole,  an  English  Schoolmas- 
ter in  the  time  of  Locke.    These  views  are  found  in  "School- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        25 

as'tic  Discipline/'  a  book  published  by  Hoole  in  1659.  He 
says:  "As  for  inflicting  punishments,  even  upon  the  mean- 
est and  worst  of  children,  it  should  ever  be  the  most  unwill- 
ing piece  of  work  that  a  master  can  take  in  hand ;  arid,  there- 
fore, he  should  not  be  hasty  to  punish  any  fault  whereof  the 
scholar  has  not  been  premonis'hed,  except  it  be  such  a  no- 
torious crime  as  a  boy  can  not  but  know  beforehand  that  he 
ought  not  to  have  done  it."  Then,  after  stating  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  such  instrumemts  of  punishment,  as  the  fer- 
ule, the  birchen  rod  and  willow  wand,  Hoole  continues,  "In- 
genuous and  towardly  scholars  will  not  need  so  much  as  the 
shadow  of  the  rod.  And  towai^ds  others  that  seem  to  ex- 
tort a  rod  from  the  master  whether  he  will  or  not,  and  (as  I 
may  say)  will  enforce  him  to  fight,  he  should  generally  use 
such  clemency  in  his  hand  as  not  -to  exceed  three  lashes,  in 
the  laying  on  of  which  he  may  contriibute  more  or  less 
weight,  with  respect  to  the  demerits  of  the  fault.  But  of 
this  he  should  always  make  sure,  that  he  should  never  let 
the  offender  go  from  him  with  a  stubborn  look  or  a  stom- 
achful  gesture,  much  less  with  a  squealing  outcry  or  mut- 
tering to  himself ;  all  of  which  may  be  easily  taken  off  with 
another  smart  jerk  or  two;  but  you  should  rather  let  him 
stand  aside  a  little  and  see  how  his  stomach  will  settle." 

We  may  smile  at  the  quaint  frankness  with  which 
Charles  Hoole  expressed  himself  in  regard  to  the  matter  of 
corporal  punisliiment.  But  Hoole  was  a  schoolmaster  while 
Locke  was  a  Philosoplier  and  a  tutor  of  two  boys.  If 
Locke  would  have  undertaken  to  teach  a  school  of  boys, 
with  the  educational  apparatus  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
he  too  mig^ht  have  been  inclined  to  make  allowance  for  a 
wider  range  of  corporal  correction. 

From  men  engaged  in  various  walks  of  life  we  find  pro- 
tests against  the  stern  discipline  existing  in  the  schools  sev- 
eral centuries  ago.  The  Rev.  Robert  South  in  a  sermon 
delivered  in  1678,  argued  for  reasonable  discipline  in  the 
schools.  Among  other  things  he  said,  "Let  not  the  chas- 
tisement of  the  body  be  managed  so  as  to  make  a  wound 
whidh  shall  rankle  and  fester  in  the  very  soul" 


25  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

In  Spectator,  No.  20,  is  found  an  article  on  "Flogging  in 
the  Public  Schools,"  written  by  Sir  Richard  Steele,  the  man 
who  with  Addison  commenced  the  publication  of  "The 
Spectator"  in  171 1.  In  this  article  Steele  strongly  opposes 
the  harsh  methods  of  discipline  prevailing  in  the  English 
Schools  of  his  day,  and  declares  that  this  mode  of  discipline 
was  in  vogue  only  because  schoolmasters  failed  to  observe 
the  natures  and  capacities  o.f  the  pupils  in  their  charge. 
Considering  the  period  when  it  was  written  this  article  is 
Remarkable.  The  following  quotations  will  be  sufficient  to 
show  the  spirit  of  the  writer.    The  article  opens  as  follows : 

"I  must  confess  I  have  very  often,  with  much  sorrow, 
bewailed  the  misfortune  of  the  children  of  Great  Britain, 
when  I  consider  the  ignorance  and  undiscerning  of  the  gen- 
erality of  schoolmasters.  The  boasted  liberty  we  talk  of  is 
but  a  mean  reward  for  the  long  servitude,  the  many  heart- 
aches and  terrors,  to  which  our  childhood  is. exposed  in  go- 
ing through  a  Grammar  School.  Many  of  these  stupid  ty- 
rants exercise  their  cruelty  without  any  manner  of  distinc- 
tion of  the  capacities  of  children,  or  the  intention  of  parents 
in  their  behalf.  There  are  many  excellent  tempers  which 
are  worthy  to  be  nourished  and  cultivated  with  all  possible 
diligence  and  care,  that  were  never  designed  to  be  acquaint- 
ed with  Aristotle,  Tully  or  Vergil ;  and  there  are  as  many 
who  have  capacities  foir  understanding  every  word  those 
great  persons  have  writ,  and  yet  were  not  born  to  have  any 
relish  of  their  writings." 

Steele  ends  the  Article  by  saying :  "Let  the  child's  capac- 
ity be  forthwith  examined,  and  he  sent  to  some  mechanic 
way  of  life,  without  respect  to  his  birth,  if  nature  designed 
him  for  no'thing  higher;  let  him  go  before  he  has  innocently 
suffered  and  is  debased  into  a  dereliction  of  mind,  for  being 
what  it  is  no  disgrace  to  be — a  plain  man.  I  would 
not  here  be  supposed  to  ihave  said  that  our  learned  men  of 
either  robe,  who  have  been  whipped  at  school,  are  not  still 
men  o-f  noble  and  liberal  minds;  but  I  am  sure  that  they  j 
would  have  been  much  more  so,  had  they  never  suffered  ' 
that  Infamy."  ^ 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        27 

This  must  end  our  account  of  influential  men  who  ex- 
pressed opposition  to  the  cruel  methods  of  school  discipline  ' 
common  in  their  time.  The  list  mig'ht  be  greatly  extended. 
The  one  thing  which  is  demanded  by  most  of  them  is  a  spirit 
of  love  and  of  fatherly  concern  in  teaching  children.  This 
spirit  is  demanded  upon  various  grounds.  By  Gerson  and 
the  Port  Royalists  it  is  demanded  upon  rehgious  grounds; 
by  Erasmus  and  Montaigne  upon  social  and  humanitarian 
grounds ;  by  Vittorino,  Ascham,  Ratich,  Comenius  and  oth- 
ers, more  particularly  upon  pedagogical  grounds.  It  is,  of 
course,  impossible  to  measure  the  influence  of  any  one  of 
these  men  upon  the  educational  practice  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived.  But  each  of  them  certainly  stimulated  the 
thoughts  and  actions  of  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of 
other  men.  We  cannot  believe  that  any  man,  whose  words 
on  any  subject  have  come  down  through  the  centuries, 
spoke  altogether  in  vain  to  his  own  age.  No  man  is  entirely 
exotic ;  he  is  still  a  product  of  his  own  times  and  environ- 
ment ;  he  expresses  what  at  least  some  others  of  his  time 
think  and  feel ;  he  gives  voice  to  a  more  or  less  vague  spirit 
of  the  times  in  which  he  lives;  he  will  have  a  following.  In 
view  of  these  consideratio'ns  the  men,  whose  names  have 
been  mentioned,  deserve  a  place  in  a  discussion  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  our  modern  concept  of  school  discipline. 

(b)  Movements 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  people,  in 
what  are  now  the  most  highly  civilized  counitries,  rapidly 
emerged  from  their  former  condition.  Old  things  passed 
away.  As  a  result  of  the  growing  spirit  of  freedom  and  of 
democracy,  a  new  man  and  a  new  society  were  born.  The 
new  man  was  more  free,  the  new  society  was  more  generous 
than  the  previous  systems  of  monarchy  had  ever  permitted' 
to  exist.  This  change,  which  was  brought  about  in  the  con- 
dition of  society  at  large,  was  also  reflected  in  the  school- 
room. As  early  as  1790,  Benjamin  Rush,  arguing  against 
corporal  punishment  in  schools,  said  that  such  punishment, 


28 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 


inflicted  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  was  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  liberty  and  should  not  be  tolerated  in  a  free  government. 

V  The  spirit  of  democracy,  which  brought  about  the  revo- 
lution of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  fol- 

I  lowed  by  a  demand  for  education  to  perpetuate  democratic 
ideals.  Thus  there  arose  an  increased  demand  for  free  pub- 
lic schools.  The  educational  movement  for  the  sake  of 
democracy  was  prominently  emphasized  by  educators  in  our 

>  country  until  about  1850.  It  is  now  taken  for  granted.  As 
a  result  oi  this  movement  free  common  schools  were  multi- 
plied very  rapidly.  New  subjects  were  added  to  the  curric- 
ulum. This  helped  to  make  school  more  interesting  than 
it  was,  for  example,  under  the  old  formal  drill  of  Latin 
Gramimar,  parsing  exercises  and  possibly  a  few  other  dry 
subjects,  'and  so  aided  materially  in  reducing  the  amount 
of  disorder  in  the  school  room.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that, 
in  addition  to  the  spirit  which  opposed  despotism  in  the 
school  room,  as  well  as  in  society  at  large,  the  introduction 
of  new  material  into  the  curriculum  had  a  marked  influence 
in  lessening  the  severity  of  school  discipline. 

The  general  discontent  which  preceded  the  revo'lution  in 
political  and  social  conditions,  just  referred  to,  was  charac- 
terized by  a  freedom  of  thought  scarcely  paralleled  before 
or  since  that  time.  The  human  mind  respected  no  external 
facts.  It  considered  itself  called  upon  to  reform  all  things. 
In  France  a  group  of  philosophers  arose  who  contributed 
probably  more  than  any  others  to  the  emancipation  ol  man 
and  the  construction  of  a  new  society.  These  thinkers 
preached  the  rights  of  man  as  they  had  never  been  preached 
before.  One  of  them,  in  his  last  and  most  influential  work, 
championed  the  rights  of  the  child.  This  was  Rousseau; 
his  treatise,  the  Emile. 

It  is  because  of  the  influence  of  the  Emile  upon  all  great 
writers  on  education  since  Rousseau's  time,  that  this  treaut- 
ise  must  be  touched  upon  in  the  present  discussion.  The 
ideas  which  dominate  in  education  at  the  present  time,  such 
as  sense  perception,  self-instruction,  mild  discipline,  the 
sacredness  of  childhood,  are  all  found  in  Rousseau's  Emile. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         29 

The  present  discussion  does  not  call  for  a  complete  presen- 
tation ai  the  educational  theory  of  Rousseau.  That  has 
been  done  by  a  number  of  able  writers.  There  are  certain 
ideas,  however,  in  the  teaching  of  Rousseau  which  throw 
some  light  on  the  development  of  the  modern  concept  of 
school  discipline,  and  ito  point  out  these  is  a  part  of  our 
problem. 

We  have  stated  above  that  mild  discipline  and  the  sacred- 
ness  of  childhood  are  two  ideas  emphasized  by  Rousseau. 
Of  these  two,  the  latter,  so  far  as  Rousseau  himself  is  con--^ 
cerned,  is  the  more  important.  The  opening  sentence  of 
the  Emile  contains  the  keynote  to  Rous-seau's  theory  of 
education.  He  says :  ''Everything  is  good  as  it  comes  from 
the  hands  of  the  Author  of  Nature ;  but  everything  degen- 
erates in  the  hands  of  man."  This  conception  makes  child- 
hood sacred.  The  child  is  originally  good.  It  must  be  pro- 
tected from  the  evils  of  society  and  from  the  evils  of  educa- 
tion 'Such  as  it  existed  in  Rousseau's  time.  It  must,  in  the 
first  place,  get  its  instruction  from  nature,  which  is  pure 
and  ennobling.  This  requires  great  vigilance  and  skill  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher.  Like  St.  Cyran  and  the  Port  Roy- 
alists, though  from  an  opposite  standpoint,  Rousseau 
thought  tihat  the  teacher's  work  consisted  largely  in  guard- 
ing souls.  "A  teacher,"  says  he,  "What  an  exalted  soul  he 
should  be."  And  concerning  himself  he  says:  "I  have  too 
high  an  opinion  of  the  magnitude  of  a  teacher!s  office,  and 
too  keen  a  sense  of  my  own  incapacity  for  it,  ever  to  accept 
such  an  employment.  *  *  *  j  once  made  a  trial  of  this 
employment  which  sufficed  to  assure  me  that  I  had  no  fit- 
ness for  it." 

Rousseau  recognized  the  importance  of  a  mild  disposition 
in  a  teacher.  In  the  "Confessions"  where  he  gives  an  ac- 
count of  his  trial  and  failure  as  tutor  of  several  children,  he 
says:  "When  my  pupils  did  not  understand  me,  I  raved; 
and  when  they  showed  signs  of  ugHness,  I  could  have  killed 
them."  He  felt  certain  that  a  child's  soul  could  not  be 
guarded  properly  by  a  person  having  such  a  temper.  Here 
we  have  a  high  ideal  of  the  teacher  and  his  work.    Teachers, 


^^^ 


30  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

imbued  with  such  an  ideal,  would  never  have  resorted  to 
all  the  harshness  common  in  schools  at  that  time. 

Rousseau  spoke  at  a  time  when  public  sentiment  was 
thoroughly  aroused  by  a  sense  of  oppression ;  when  wrongs 
and  abuses  were  beginning  to  be  keenly  felt ;  when  the  sen- 
timents of  his  emotional  nature  were  likely  to  make  the 
deepest  impression.  Le  us  bear  ithis  in  mind  as  we  read,  by 
way  of  illustration,  the  following  quotations  from  the  sec- 
ond Book  of  the  Emile.  A  large  number  of  similar  quota- 
tions from  this  treatise  might  be  given;  but  the  following 
will  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  point  we  wish  to  make : — 

*'What  must  we  think,  then,  of  that  bai'barous  education 
which  sacrifices  the  present  ito  an  uncertain  future,  which 
loads  a  child  with  chains  of  every  sort,  and  begins  by  mak- 
ing him  miserable  in  order  to  prepare  for  him,  long  in  ad- 
vance, some  pretended  happiness  which  it  is  probable  he  will 
never  enjoy?  Were  I  even  to  assume  that  education  to  be 
reasonable  in  its  object,  how  could  we  witness,  without  in- 
dignation, these  poor  unfortunates,  subject  to  an  insupport- 
able yoke,  and  condemned,  like  galley-slaves  to  never-end- 
ing toils,  without  any  assurance  that  such  sacrifices  will  ever 
be  useful  to  them?  The  age  of  mirth  is  passed  in  the  midst 
of  tears,  chastisemenlts,  threats  and  slavery.  The  victim  is 
tormented  for  his  good  and  we  do  not  see  the  death  we  in- 
vite, and  which  is  coming  to  seize  him  in  the  mids't  of  this 
sad  preparation.  Who  knows  how  many  children  perish, 
the  victims  of  the  misdirected  wisdom  of  a  father  or  a 
teacher.  Happily  released  from  his  cruelty,  the  only  ad- 
vantage which  they  derive  from  the  ills  which  they  have 
been  made  to  suffer,  is  to  die  without  looking  back  with  re-» 
gret  on  a  life  of  which  'they  have  known  only  the  torments. 

"O  men,  be  humane ;  it  is  your  foremost  duty.  Be  humane 
to  all  ages;  to  everything  not  foreign  to  mankind.  What 
wisdom  is  there  for  you  outside  of  humanity?  Love  child- 
hood, encourage  its  sports,  its  pleasures,  its  amiable  in- 
stincts. Who  of  you  has  not  sometimes  looked  back  with 
regret  on  that  age  when  a  smile  was  ever  on  the  lips,  when 
the  soul  was  ever  at  peace?     Why  should  you  take  from 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        31 

those  little  innocents  the  enjoyment  of  a  time  so  short  whidh 
is  slipping  from  them,  and  of  a  good  so  precious  which  they 
can  not  abuse  ?  Why  would  you  fill  with  bitterness  and  sor 
row  those  early  years  so  rapidly  passing,  which  will  no  more 
return  to  them  than  to  you  ?  Fathers,  do  you  know  the  mo- 
ment when  death  awaits  your  children?  Do  not  prepare 
for  yourselves  regrets  by  taking  from  them  the  few  moments 
which  Nature  has  given  them.  As  soon  as  they  can  feel  the 
pleasures  of  existence,  allow  them  to  enjoy  it ;  and  at  what- 
ever hour  God  may  summon  theni,  see  to  it  that  they  do  not 
die  befor^  they  have  tasted  Hfe." 

Who  can  measure  the  influence  of  such  words  as  those 
just  quoted,  spoken  when  they  were,  in  determining  man's 
attitude  toward  the  child?  What  teacher  or  parent,  after 
reading  the  Emile,  paradoxical  and  utterly  impracticable  as 
it  is,  would  not  be  more  thoughtful  in  his  treatment  of  chil- 
dren? It  may  be  seen  why  people,  forgetting  the  faults  of 
Rousseau,  were  so  deeply  impressed,  and  aroused  to  action 
by  his  book.  A  passionate  appeal  in  behalf  of  childhood 
for  the  sake  of  childhood  and,  incidentally,  for  that  of  future 
manhood,  was  what  received  response. 

So  far  as  punishment  is  concerned  Rousseau  proposes  the 
doctrine  of  natural  consequences.  This  doctrine  was  later 
elaborated  by  Herbert  Spencer  and  shall  be  presented  in 
our  discussion  of  him.  Rousseau  says,  "Keep  the  child  de- 
pendent on  one  thing  alone,  and  you  will  have  followed  the 
order  of  Nature  in  his  education.  OfTer  to  his  indiscreet 
caprices  only  physical  obstacles  or  punishments  which  re- 
sult from  his  actions  themselves,  and  which  he  recalls  on  oc- 
casion. Without  forbidding  him  to  do  wrong,  it  suffices  to 
prevent  him  from  doing  it.  Only  experience  or  want  of 
power  should  serve  as  law  for  him." 

One  more  idea  emphasized  by  Rousseau,  and  far-reaching 
in  effect,  must  be  included  in  this  discussion.  He  argued  for 
knowledge  gained  by  experience  with  things.  He  was  op- 
posed to  the  memory  drill  common  in  the  schools  of  his 
time.  Indeed,  in  his  plea  for  education  according  to  nature, 
he  underestimated  the  real  scope  and  value  of  memory.    He 


32  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

saw  that  one  reason  why  teac^hers  were  led  to  punish  as 
much  as  they  did,  was  because  there  was  very  little  in 
school  that  really  interested  children.  They  could  not  'be 
interested  in  verbal  learning  which  they  did  not  understand. 
The  following  paragraph,  relative  to  this  condition,  ex- 
plains his  attitude.  It  is  not  altogether  without  application 
in  our  own  time. 

"Teachers  complain  that  the  ardor  of  this  age  renders 
the  young  unruly,  and  I  see  that  this  is  true.  Is  not  this 
their  own  fault?  As  soon  as  they  have  allowed  this  ardor 
to  take  its  course  through  the  senses,  are  they  ignorant  that 
they  no  longer  can  give  it  another?  Will  the  long  and  life- 
less sermons  of  a  pedant  efface  from  the  mind  of  his  pupils 
the  image  of  the  pleasures  which  he  has  conceived?  Will 
they  banish  from  his  heart  the  desires  which  torment  him? 
Will  they  allay  the  ardor  of  a  temperamient  whose  use  he 
knows  ?  Will  he  not  be  irritated  at  the  obstacles  which  op- 
pose the  only  happiness  of  whic^h  he  has  an  idea?  And  in 
the  harsh  law  which  we  prescribe  for  him  without  being 
able  to  understand  it,  what  will  he  see  except  the  caprice  and 
hatred  of  a  man  who  is  trying  to  torment  him?  Is  it  strange 
that  he  rebels  and  hates  him  in  his  turn? 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  effect  of  the  general  so- 
cial change  and  of  the  movement  for  democracy  upon  the 
spirit  of  the  schoolroom.  Of  all  the  various  factors  which 
made  for  these  changes,  the  writings  of  Rousseau  are 
among  the  most  important.  But  apart  from  this  particular 
consideration,  it  has  seemed  proper  to  say  at  least  as  much 
as  we  have  said  of  the  Emile  because  of  its  influence  upon 
educational  movements.  Pestalozzi,  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
next,  in  connection  with  the  Pestalozzian  movement,  was 
directly  influenced  by  Rousseau's  Emile.  Here  is  what  he 
himself  says : — 

"The  moment  Rousseau's  Emile  appeared,  my  visionary 
and  highly  speculative  mind  was  enthusiastically  seized  by 
this  visionary  and  highly  speculative  book.  I  compared  the 
education  which  I  enjoyed  in  the  corner  of  my  mother's 
parlor,  and  also  in  the  school  which  I  frequented,  with  wthat 


7^ 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         33 

Rousseau  demanded  for  the  education  of  his  Emilus.  The 
home  as  well  as  the  public  education  of  the  whole  world, 
and  of  all  ranks  of  society,  appeared  to  me  altogether  as  a 
crippled  thing,  which  was  to  find  a  universal  remedy  for  its 
present  pitiful  condition  in  Rousseau's  lofty  ideas." 

Pestalozzi  labored  in  making  positive  and  concrete  the 
negative  and  general  principles  of  Rousseau.  So  far  as 
sympathy  with  childhood  is  concerned,  Rousseau,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  thoroughly  emphasized  it  in  his  educa- 
tional theory.  Pestalozzi  put  this  part  of  Rousseau's  theory 
into  practice.  Nowhere  in  the  history  of  pedagogy  do  we 
find  a  better  spirit  of  love  and  self-sacrifice  than  was  mani- 
fested by  Pestalozzi.  Speaking  of  his  experience  as  teacher 
of  about  eighty  orphan  and  destitute  children  at  Stanz,  he 
says : — 

''I  was  alone  with  them  from  morning  till  night.  It  was 
from  me  that  they  could  receive  all  that  could  do  them  good, 
soul  and  body.  All  needful  help,  consolation  and  instruction 
they  received  direct  from  me.  Their  hands  were  in  mine, 
my  eyes  were  fixed  on  theirs.  We  wept  and  smiled  together. 
They  forgot  the  world  and  Stanz ;  they  only  knew  that  they 
were  with  me  and  I  with  them.  We  shared  our  food  and 
drink.  I  was  with  them  in  sickness,  and  in  health,  and  when 
they  slept.  I  was  the  last  to  go  to  bed  and  the  first  to 
get  up.  In  the  bedroom  I  prayed  with  them  and,  at  their 
own  request,  taught  them  till  they  fell  asleep." 

Pestalozzi  acted  toward  his  children  like  an  affectionate 
father.  But  like  the  best  of  fathers  may,  he,  too,  sometimes, 
had  recourse  to  corporal  punishment  when  a  child  was  ob- 
durate and  churlish,  at  least  in  his  experiment  at  Stanz. 
He  believed,  however  that  the  rule  of  no  corporal  punish- 
ment was  good,  and  applicable  under  favorable  conditions, 
and  sought  to  justify  his  practice  at  Stanz,  by  saying  that 
he  was  there  dealing  with  an  exceptional  class  of  children. 
He  says:  ''My  punishments  never  produced  obstinacy;  the 
children  I  had  beaten  were  quite  satisfied,  if  a  moment  af- 
terward I  gave  them  my  hand  and  kissed  them,  and  I  could 


1 


34  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

read  in  their  eyes  that  the  final  effect  of  my  blows  was  really 

joy." 

That  Pestalozzi  had  a  genuine  love  for  children  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  the  children  in  his  school  really  loved  him. 
One  of  his  pupils  at  Yverdun  wrote  later  in  life :  "We  all 
loved  him  for  he  loved  us  all.  We  loved  him  so  warmly 
that  when  some  time  passed  without  our  seeing  him,  we 
were  quite  troubled  about  it,  and  when  he  again  appeared 
we  could  not  take  our  eyes  off  him."  Much  that  goes  by 
the  name  of  Pestalozzianism  can  not  be  traced  directly  to 
the  work  of  the  great  reformer,  but  his  permanent  influence 
on  the  general  spirit  of  the  schoolroom  cannot  be  denied. 

Pestalozzianism  spread  rapidly.  To  his  Institute  at  Yver- 
dun teachers  came  from  all  quarters.  Some  of  them  were 
sent  by  the  governments  of  the  countries  to  which  they  be- 
longed that  they  might  get  initiated  into  the  Pestalozzian 
system.  Largely  through  the  influence  of  the  philosopher, 
Fichte,  Prussia  early  adopted  Pestalozzianism.  Other  dis- 
ciples carried  the  system  to  other  parts  of  the  continent. 
Pestalozzian  principles  and  methods  were  found  in  the 
somewhat  extensive  system  of  training  established  in  1820, 
by  Samuel  Wildespin,  in  England.  Here,  too,  the  "Home 
and  Colonial  School  Society,"  founded  in  1836,  carried  out 
the  principles  of  Wilderspin  and  Pestalozzi.  One  of  the 
principles  of  this  society  was,  that  punishments  should  be 
light,  and  that  in  dealing  with  an  obstinate  child  you  should 
strive  to  foster  gentle  and  kindly  feelings  in  him  by  exhibit- 
ing them  toward  him.  Although  Neef,  one  of  Pestalozzi's 
assistants,  came,  as  a  teacher,  to  Philadelphia  as  early  as 
1808,  it  was  not  until  fifty  years  after  this  that  Pestalozzian- 
ism became  influential  in  the  schools  of  the  United  States. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  only  of  the  influence  of  one 
phase  of  Pestalozzianism,  which  enters  so  largely  into  the 
development  of  education  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
spirit  of  love  for  the  child,  exemplified  by  Pestalozzi,  has 
done  much  toward  making  the  life  of  the  child  at  school 
more  pleasant  than  it  was  a  century  ago.  But,  apart  from 
this,  Pestalozzian  principles,  as    elaborated   by   his    follow- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        35 

ers,  have  greatly  lessened  the  burdens  of  the  child,  by  caus-^ 
ng  instruction  to  be  adapted  to  its  capacities.  The  fact  that^P 
education  is  recognized  as  a  process  of  mental  growth  with 
observation,  or  sense-perception,  as  its  basis,  has  led  to  a 
schoolroom  practice  which  at  once  makes  the  work  more 
interesting  to  the  child.  Especially  is  this  true  of  primary 
education.  Generally  speaking,  the  child  is  no  longer  com- 
pelled to  study  abstract,  rules  which  he  can  not  understand, 
and  the  meaning  of  which  may,  only  perchance,  some  day 
dawn  upon  him.  Subjects  are  analyzed  into  their  simplest 
elements  and  then  gradually  increased  in  complexity  as  the 
child's  mind  is  able  to  understand  them.  This  is  largely  a 
development  of  Pestalozzi's  ideas.  He  tried,  in  an  empirical 
way,  to  put  education  upon  a  psychological  basis.  He  did 
not,  and  could  not,  work  out  the  problem  involved.  This 
was  done  by  Herbart. 

Herbart  gave  scientific  justification  to  Pestalozzi's  ideas.  * 
According  to  Herbart's  theory,  the  process  of  education  I 
consists  in  the  assimilation  of  new  ideas  by  means  of  ideas 
already  acquired.     The  psychological  term  used  to  desig-  ' 
nate  this  process  is  apperception;  and  the  feeling  side  of  the 
process  of  apperception  is  termed  interest.    The  theoretical 
exposition  of  this  psychological  principle  is  Herbart's  chief 
work;  its  elaboration  and  application  in  school  room  prac- 
tice is  the  work  of  his  followers. 

From  the  Herbartian  point  of  view  the  function  of  the  i 
teacher  is  to  impart  knowledge  in  such  a  way  that  it  can  be  j 
most  rapidly,  securely  and  profitably  assimilated.  In  order 
to  do  this,  he  must  know  something  of  the  child's  previous 
knowledge,  so  as  to  be  able  to  make  use  of  it;  he  must 
carefully  select  his  materials  of  instruction ;  and  he  must  ar- 
range these  materials  with  respect  to  what  has  preceded 
and  what  follows.  We  do  not  need  to  go  into  the  details  of 
Herbartian  method  here.  What  we  have  said  is  sufficient 
to  bring  out  the  point  we  wish  to  make.    It  is  this : 

The  Herbartian  teacher  has  some  knowledge  of  his  prob- 
lem. He  works  according  to  a  definite  theory.  His  teach- 
ing instead  of  being  aimless  and  lifeless,  will  be  interesting. 


36 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 


As  a  result  of  his  own  knowledge  of,  and  interest  in,  the 
teaching  process,  he  will  be  likely  to  arouse  interest  in  his 
pupils.  Indeed,  to  get  his  pupils  interested  in  their  work, 
by  properly  guiding  them  in  acquiring  and  assimilating  new 
knowledge,  is  the  important  part  of  his  problem.  If  he  ac- 
complishes this  he  has  to  a  large  extent  solved  the  question 
of  discipline. 

The  Herbartian  is,  probably,  the  most  influential  move- 
ment which  has  afifected  modern  education.  Books  on  gen- 
eral method,  and  on  special  methods  in  teaching  different 
branches,  have  been  written  by  the  followers  of  Herbart. 
Their  influence  in  our  country,  at  least,  is  on  the  increase. 
That  they  are  doing  much  toward  bringing  about  an  ideal 
disciphne  cannot  be  questioned. 

In  this  connection  the  Froebelian  movement  must  also 
be  mentioned.  This  movement  is  characterized  by  an  em- 
phasis upon  the  importance  of  the  child.  Froebers  funda- 
mental principle  was  that  children  are  creative  rather  than 
receptive.  Education  thus  becomes  a  process  of  self-activ- 
ity. The  child  must  express  himself  in  action  based  upon 
his  interests  and  experiences.  Froebel's  principles  have  an 
influence  upon  important  educational  tendencies  of  the  pres- 
ent time.  He  himself  applied  them  to  the  kindergarten. 
Others  are  applying  them  to  more  advanced  phases  of  edu- 
cation. The  kndergarten  is  now  a  very  important  institution 
in  education.  It  has  done  a  great  deal  toward  changing 
the  attitude  of  educators  and  teachers  with  respect  to  the 
child.  As  a  result  of  its  spirit  and  its  methods  it  has  doubt- 
less contributed  largely  toward  a  milder  discipline. 

The  Child  Saudy  movement,  which  has  much  in  common 
with  the  Froebelian  and  Herbartian  movements,  and  which 
is  contemporary  with  the  latter,  has  contributed  no  small 
share  toward  making  the  spirit  and  practice  of  the  school- 
room what  it  is  to-day.  The  most  prominent  representative 
of  this  movement  in  our  country  is  G.  Stanley  Hall.  The 
study  of  the  child  has  done  a  great  deal  for  the  welfare  of 
children.  Among  other  things  it  has  brought  out  and  em- 
phasized the  fact  that  many  children  have  either  physical  or 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         37 

mental  defects  which  are  the  cause  of  retardation  in  school. 
It  has  shown  the  necessity  of  special  schools  for  defective^ 
children.  It  has  made  clear  the  need  of  medical  inspection 
in  schools.  It  has  emphasized  the  importance  of  play  in 
education.  As  a  result  of  the  careful  study  of  the  child 
many  pupils  are  now  in  special  schools,  who  would  have 
'been  flogged,  a  century  ago,  for  failing  to  do  what  they 
really  could  not.  Child  study  has  made  many  a  teacher 
careful  and  considerate  in  his  treatment  of  children.  To 
give  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  it  is  pursued  in  our 
day,  mention  may  here  be  made  of  the  fact  that  a  ''Bibliog- 
raphy of  Child  Study  for  Years  1908-1909,"  published  by 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  contains  1697  titles. 

Some  modern  psychologists  are  engaged  in  the  scientific 
study  and  treatment  of  backward  children.  That  this  is  an 
important  f\eld  has  been  shown  by  Professor  Witmer,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylania.  He  has  been  successful  in  treat- 
ing cases  of  mental  and  moral  deficiency,  such  as  not  many 
years  ago,  would  have  been  considered  hopeless.  His  work 
and  influence  will  doubtless  mean  much  for  the  future  wel- 
fare of  certain  classes  of  children,  and  of  the  school  in  gen- 
eral. 

The  psychological,  and  the  scientific  tendency  in  educa- 
tion, expressed  by  the  various  movements  we  have  men- 
tioned, gave  rise  to  a  demand  for  trained  teachers.  As  men 
began  to  see  the  magnitude  of  the  problem  of  education  and 
to  feel  its  importance,  the  work  of  the  public  school  teacher 
gradually  ceased  to  be  considered  a  trivial  task  which  any- 
body, who  could  read,  write  and  cipher,  was  qualified  to 
perform.  Schools  for  the  training  of  teachers  were  estab- 
lished, and  these  are  continually  increasing  in  number  and 
in  efficiency.  The  training  of  teachers,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned  in  discussing  the  Herbartians,  helps  them  in 
solving  the  problems  of  the  schoolroom.  They  learn  to  im- 
part knowledge  in  a  way  that  it  becomes  more  interesting  to 
the  child.  While  making  a  plea  for  the  study  of  pedagogy, 
the  superintedent  of  one  of  our  largest  cities  recently  said : 
It  is  not  difficult  to-day  to  get  Hi^h  School  teachers  who 


38  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

know  their  subject ;  the  difficulty  lies  in  getting  teachers  who 
know  how  to  impart  knowledge  so  as  to  secure  the  interest 
of  their  pupils.  If  they  can  not  do  this  they  will  soon  find 
their  pupils  in  wild  disorder. 

This  gives  us  the  modern  attitude  toward  school  disci- 
pline. If  the  average  class  of  pupils  is  disorderly,  so  as  to 
render  effective  work  impossible,  the  fault  is  ascribed  to  the 
teacher  and  not  to  the  pupils.  The  teacher,  it  is  claimed, 
does  not  know  how  to  impart  knowledge  so  as  to  arouse 
the  interest  and  call  forth  the  efforts  of  his  pupils.  This  is  a 
high  standard  by  which  to  judge  a  teacher's  ability  to  disci- 
pline; and  the  unfortunate  teacher  who  does  not  possess  a 
certain  kind  of  personaHty  may,  at  times,  despair  of  success. 
Yet  this  ideal  is  making  for  a  maximum  of  efficiency,  with  a 
minimum  of  punishment  in  our  schools. 

At  another  place  we  have  stated  that  the  introduction  of 
new  subjects  into  the  curriculum,  as  a  result  of  the  demand 
of  education  for  democracy,  made  school  more  interesting, 
and  so  lessened  the  occasions  for  disorder.  This  is  to  a  still 
larger  extent  true,  as  a  result  of  the  development  of  science. 
The  movement  for  the  teaching  of  science,  represented  by 
Herbert  Spencer,  Thomas  Huxley  and  others,  has  resulted 
in  a  great  change  in  the  curriculum  of  the  public  schools. 
Much  useful  and  interesting  material  has  been  added  to  it. 

Modern  school  buildings,  modern  sclioolrooms,  modern 
school  furniture,  modern  school  books,  which  are,  in  many 
cases,  well  adapted  works  of  art,  as  compared  with  books 
used  but  two  or  three  decades  ago,  modern  maps,  modern 
schoolroom  decorations,  all  kinds  of  modern  school  appa- 
ratus, shorter  sessions,  intermissions  for  relaxation  and 
play,  playgrounds  equipped  with  special  apparatus — all 
these  things  help  to  make  school  life  incomparably  more 
agreeable  than  it  was  a  century  or  more  ago,  and  tend  to 
make  school  discipline  milder. 

Finally  we  must  mention  the  influence  of  women  upon  the 
spirit  of  the  schoolroom.  In  1900,  13  per  cent,  of  the  teach- 
ers in  Prussia  were  women,  55  per  cent,  in  France,  13  per 
cent,  in  England  and  69  per  cent,  in  the  United  States.  From 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         39 

90  to  95  per  cent,  of  the  teachers  in  our  large  cities  are 
women.  This  has  an  influence  on  the  treatment  of  the  child. 
"Women  are  the  natural  teachers  of  the  race.  Nature  has 
given  a  w^oman  a  certain  sustaining  love  of  childhood,  a  full 
measure  of  sympathy  and  a  soul  that  responds  to  the  needs 
of  childhood." 

We  have  discussed  briefly  what  seem  to  be  the  most  im- 
portant factors  in  the  development  of  the  modern  concept 
of  school  discipline.  Some  of  these  factors  will  be  brought 
out  more  clearly  as  we  present  the  methods  of  discipline 
suggested  or  emiployed  by  several  recent  and  contemporary 
educational  thinkers.    To  this  we  now  proceed. 


Chapter  III 


School  DiscipHne  in  the  Light  of  Representative  Edu- 
cational Thinkers  of  Recent  Times 


While  speaking  of  the  introduction  of  Pestalozzian  ideas 
into  the  schools  of  the  United  States,  we  referred  to  the  in- 
fluence of  Horace  Mann.  But  Mann  deserves  more  than 
this  passing  notice  in  the  present  discussion.  Probably  no 
other  educator  rendered  as  distinguished  service  to  the  cause 
of  popular  education  in  America.  He  labored  successfully 
for  "the  education  of  the  whole  people"  with  "the  consent 
of  the  whole  people,"  and  is  known  as  the  father  of  the 
American  public  school  system.  He  made  an  appeal  for  the 
training  of  teachers  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  Nor- 
mal Schools  in  this  country.  He  stood  for  knowledge  most 
useful  to  the  masses.  He  pleaded  for  objective  teaching, 
oral  instruction  and  milder  discipline.  He  championed  the 
cause  of  higher  education  for  women  and  of  co-education. 
In  this  discussion  we  are  particularly  concerned  with  his 
views  aiid  suggestions  on  school  discipline. 

Horace  Mann's  attitude  toward  the  child  and  its  educa- 
tion was  to  a  large  extent  determined  by  his  own  experi- 


40  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

ence  in  early  life.  In  his  personal  memoir  he  tells  us  that 
his  childhood  was  not  a  happy  one;  that  he  was  by  nature 
elastic  and  buoyant, but  the  poverty  of  his  parents  subjected 
him  to  comtinual  privations.  He  says  "I  believe  in  the  rugged 
nursing  of  Toil,  but  she  nursed  me  too  much."  He  ac- 
knowledges, however,  that  one  benefit  derived  from  this 
hard  struggle  was  industry  or  dihgence,  which  became  sec- 
ond nature  to  him,  and  which  always  led  him  to  set  about  his 
tasks  like  a  fatalist. 

In  Mann's  school  days  a  love  of  knowledge  meant  love 
of  books.  There  was  no  oral  instruction — something  he 
became  anxious  later  in  life  that  other  children  should  have. 
Books  for  children  were  few  and  their  contents  meagre  and 
miserable.  His  teachers,  he  says,  were  "very  good  people 
but  very  poor  teachers."  They  never  taught  things  from 
nature.  "With  all  our  senses  glowing  and  receptive,"  says 
he,  "how  little  were  we  taught;  or  rather,  how  much  ob- 
structi'on  was  thrust  between  us  and  nature's  teachings. 
Our  eyes  were  never  trained  to  distinguish  forms  or  colors. 
Our  ears  were  strangers  to  music.  So  far  from  being  taught 
the  art  of  drawing,  which  is  a  beautiful  language  by  itself, 
I  well  remember  when  the  impulse  to  express  in  pictures 
what  I  could  not  express  in  words  was  so  strong  that  it 
tingled  down  to  my  fingers,  then  my  knuckles  were  rapped 
with  the  heavy  ruler  of  the  teacher  or  cut  with  his  rod,  so 
that  an  artificial  tingling  soon  drove  away  the  natural  one." 
In  these  expressions  we  recognize  the  ideas  of  a  Pestaloz- 
zian.  Take  this  account  of  what  Horace  Mann  says  he 
missed  at  school  and  yxifU  will  know,  to  a  large  extent,  how 
amd  what  he  thought  children  should  be  taught.  "Oh !" 
says  he,  "when  the  intense  and  burning  activity  of  youthful 
faculties  shall  find  employment  in  salutary  and  pleasing 
studies  and  occupations,  then  will  we  be  able  to  judge  better 
of  the  alleged  proneness  of  children  to  mischief.  Until  then 
children  have  not  a  fair  trial  before  their  judges."  No  Amer- 
ican educator  labored  more  earnestly  and  successfully  to- 
^  ward  giving  children  this  "fair  trial." 

Horace  Mann's  influence  spread  through  the  town  meet- 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        41 

ing,  through  his  reports  on  educaticm,  which  have  since 
become  classics,  through  current  articles,  pamphlets,  and 
the  "Public  School  Journal,"  and  through  his  letters.  In  his 
Seventh  Annual  Report,  as  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Education,  he  gives  an  account  of  ihis  observations 
made  in  the  Schools  of  Europe.  According  to  his  views 
the  Prussian  schools  were  superior  to  any  others  he  saw. 
As  we  have  already  stated,  Prussia  had  'before  this  time 
adopted  Pestalozzianism.  Here,  therefore,  Mann  saw 
Pestalozzian  practice.  Among  other  things  he  states  that, 
in  Prussia,  he  never  saw  a  teadher  hearing  a  lesson  with  a 
book  in  his  hand;  he  never  saw  a  teacher  sitting;  and  he 
never  saw  a  child  either  arraigned  for  punishment,  under- 
going it  or  having  recently  been  punished.  He  did  not  in- 
tend to  imply  by  the  last  remark  that  corporal  punishment 
was  entirely  discarded,  but  that  it  was  very  seldom  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  it.  The  earnestness  and  interest  of  teach- 
ers in  their  work,  their  evidently  strong  affection  for  their 
pupils,  and  the  reciprocal  affection  engendered  by  this  were 
generally  sufificient  to  produce  obedience.  The  Seventh 
Annual  Report  provoked  a  great  deal  of  discussion  among 
the  educational  thinkers  and  teachers  of  the  time.  It  is  pro- 
nounced, by  such  a  competent  judge  as  Professor  Paul  Mon- 
roe, "one  of  the  most  influential  educational  documents 
ever  published  in  America." 

In  his  Ninth  Annual  Report  Mann  says  that  the  teacher 
must  not  be  a  hireling.  He  must  love  children  and  love  his 
work.  He  should  enter  the  schoolroom  as  the  friend  and 
benefactor  of  his  scholars ;  should  aim  to  secure  their  good 
will;  should  lead,  not  drive.  The  teacher  should  not  lay 
down  a  code  of  laws;  he  should  speak  of  the  duties  to  be 
done,  of  the  reasons  and  rewards  appertaining  to  thenv 
rather  than  of  ofifences  and  their  punishments.  Though 
corporal  punishment  may  be  necessary  in  extreme  cases,  it 
should  be  abandoned  when  higher  motives  can  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  pupils.  Fear  is  neither  curative  nor  re- 
storative ;  it  is  at  some  times  and  in  some  cases  preventive, 
and  hence  should  not  be  proscribed  from  the  teacher's  list 


42  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

of  motives.  But  when  boith  teacher  and  pupil  reach  that 
higher  plane  of  action  toward  which  we  should  always  be 
striving,  we  may  hope  to  substitute  love  and  duty  for  fear. 

In  an  address  on  "The  Teacher's  Motives,"  published  in 
Barnard's  Journal  of  Education,  Mann  gives  some  more 
useful  advice  in  regard  to  discipHne.  He  urges  teachers  to 
be  thoughtful  in  their  treatment  of  pupils,  and  always  to  en- 

^avor  to  find  out  a  pupil's  motives  before  censuring  or 
punishing  him  for  misconduct.  For  example,  a  boy  appears 
headstrong  and  obstinate  on  a  certain  occasion.  The  teach- 
er should  question  him  carefully.  His  obstinacy  may  be 
founded  upon  the  noble,  though  untrained,  principle  of 
conscience  and  firmness;  and,  if  managed  rig^htly,  he  may 
develop  into  a  power  for  justice  and  righteousness.  Here, 
too,  Mann  exhorts  teachers  to  be  patient.  While  human 
nature  remains  as  it  is  now,  we  must  expect  much  of  incon- 
siderateness  and  aberration  in  the  young.  This  can  no 
more  be  changed  in  a  day  than  the  sun  and  the  rain  bring 
harvest  in  a  day.  Thus  we  find  Mann  pleading  for  kindness 
and  considerateness  in  the  treatment  of  Children.  He  felt 
throughout  life,  as  he  thought,  the  evil  efifects  of  his  own  se- 
vere discipline,  and  earnestly  labored  that  other  children 
might  have  a  more  pleasant  lot  than  had  fallen  to  him. 

While  the  influence  of  Pestalozzianism  and  a  resulting 
milder  discipline  began  to  be  felt  in  the  United  States 
through  the  educational  service  of  Horace  Mann,  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  Benjamin  Rush  argued  strongly 
against  corporal  punishment,  and  the  prevailing  methods 
of  school  discipline  almost  half  a  century  before  this  time. 
Rush,  to  whoim  we  have  already  referred,  was  a  patriot  who 
lived  during  the  trying  times  of  the  American  revolution, 
and  what  he  wrote  on  education  was  written  largely  from 
the  standpoint  of  democracy.  In  1790  there  came  from  his 
pen  an  essay  on  "Amusements  and  Punishments  Proper  for 
Schools."  In  some  respects  this  is  the  most  interesting  dis- 
cussion of  school  discipline  we  have  found  in  connection 
with  this  bit  of  educational  research. 

Rush  argues  that  the  amusements  of  our  youth  at  school 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline         43 

sih'ould  consist  of  such  exercises  as  would  be  most  sub- 
servient ito  their  future  employments  in  life.  These  employ- 
ments are  agriculture,  mechanical  occupations  and  the  busi- 
ness of  the  learned  professions.  In  agriculture,  he  suggests 
school  gardens  for  amusement;  in  mechanical  occupations, 
he  suggests  a  form  of  manual  training;  in  the  business  of 
the  learned  professions,  to  which  he  belonged  he  recom- 
mends "the  amusement  derived  from  cultivating  a  spot  of 
ground." 

It  should  be  noted  here  that  the  ideas  expressed  by  Rush, 
on  the  above  poin't,  are  as  old  as  Plato.  In  the  First  Book  of 
the  "Laws"  Plato  says:  "Children  should  learn  beforehand  ] 
the  knowledge  which  they  will  afterwards  require  for  their 
art.  For  example,  the  future  carpenter  should  learn  to 
measure  or  apply  the  Hne  in  play;  and  the  future  warrior 
should  learn  riding,  or  some  other  exercise  for  amusement, 
and  the  teacher  should  endeavor  to  direct  the  children's  in- 
clinations and  pleasures,  by  the  help  of  amusements,  to  their 
final  aim  in  life." 

Under  the  discussion  of  punishments  which  are  proper 
for  schools,  Rush  says,  first,  in  a  general  way,  that  the  spirit 
of  making  punishments  less  severe  had  its  effect  in  civil,  ec- 
clesiastical, mihtary  and  domestic  society,  bu(t  that  this 
spirit  of  humanity  and  civilizations  had  not  yet  found  its 
way  into  the  schools.  "The  schoolmaster,"  says  he,  "is  the 
only  despot  known  in  free  countries."  "This,"  he  contin- 
ues, "is,  perhaps,  because  the  little  subjects  of  his  arbitrary 
power  have  not  been  in  a  condition  to  complain,"  "I  shall 
endeawr,  therefore,"  he  adds,  "to  plead  their  cause,  and  to 
prove  that  corporal  punishments,  exce.pt  to  children  under 
four  or  five,  are  never  necessary  and  always  hurtful  in 
schools."  Then  he  gives  the  following  eleven  reasons  against 
corporal  punishment: — 

I.  School  children  feel  the  force  of  rational  and  moral 
obligation,  and  may,  therefore,  be  deterred  from  com- 
mitting offences  by  motives  less  disgraceful  than  the 
fear  of  corporal  punishmertt. 


44  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

\  2.  By  correcting  children  for  ignorance  and  negligence 
~-^  in  school,  their  ideas  of  improper  and  immoral  actions 

are  confounded. 

,^3.  Parental  anger  may  sometimes  produce  violent  ef- 
fects upon  a  child — much  more  the  teacher's  anger 
■in  which  there  is  no  admix^ture  of  parental  affection. 

::^  4.  Injuries  are  sometimes  done  to  the  bodies,  and  some- 
times to  the  intellects  of  children  by  corporal  punish- 
ments. 

^  5.  Corporal  punishments,  inflicted  at  school,  have  a  ten- 
dency to  destroy  the  sense  of  shame,  and  thereby  to 
destroy  all  moral  sensibility. 

6.  Corporal  punishments,  inflicted  at  school,  tend  to  be- 
get a  spirit  of  violence  in  boys  towards  each  other, 
and  hatred  toward  their  masters. 

7.  Corporal   punishments,   inflicted   at   school,   beget   a 
hatred  to  instruction  in  young  people.     *     *     * 
They  are  some  means  by  which  the  devil  seeks  to  keep 
the  world  in  ignorance. 

8.  Corporal  punishments  are  not  only  hurtful,  but  un- 
necessary, in  schools.  *  *  Some  celebrated  and 
successful  schoolmasters  get  along  without  them. 

9.  Fear  of  corporal  punishment  debilitates  the  body  and 
contracts  the  capacity  of    the    mind    for    acquiring 

\  knowledge. 

^-    10.     There  is  not  the  proper  ratio  between  ofifence  and 
punishment.     Corporal  punishments  level  all  capaci- 
ties and  tempers. 
II.     Corporal  punishments,  inflicted  in  an  arbitrary  man- 
ner, are  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  should 
not  be  tolerated  in  a  free  government. 
I      Rush  says :  "Had  I  influence  enough  in  our  legislature  to 
obtain  only  a  single  law,  it  should  be  to  make  the  punish- 
'  ment  for  striking  a  boy  the  same  as  assaulting  and  beating 
f  an  adult  member  of  society." 

The  following  is  the  method  which  Rush  suggests  for 
governing  a  school :  In  the  first  place  the  teacher  should  ac- 
quire the  confidence  of  his  pupils  by  a  prudent  deportment. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        45 

He  should  learn  to  command  his  passions  and  temper  at 
all  times  in  his  school;  should  trea.t  the  name  of  God  with 
reverence ;  should  exact  respectful  behavior  toward  himself. 
He  may  join  in  the  amusements  of  his  pupils ;  and,  to  secure 
their  affection  and  respect  more  perfectly,  he  should  give 
them  prizes  once  or  twice  a  year  for  proficiency  in  learning 
and  for  good  behavior.  If  these  things  fail,  then  the  follow- 
ing modes  of  punishment  should  be  adopted : 

1.  Private   admonition — like   the   Divine   Being  in   the 
still  small  voice  oi  conscience. 

2.  Confinement  after  school  hours  are  ended;  but  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  parents. 

3.  Holding  a  small  sign  of  disgrace  of  any  kind,  in  the 
middle  of  the  floor  in  the    presence    of   the    whole 

school. 

If  these  punishments  fail,  the  pupil  should  be  dismissed 
from  school  so  as  to  prevent  him  from  corrupting  his  school- 
mates. '*It  is  the  business  of  parents,  and  not  of  schoolmas- 
ters, to  use  the  last  means  for  eradicating  vice  and  idleness 
from  their  children."  The  following  sentences  seem  quite 
modern,  though  written,  in  our  own  country,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years  ago :  ''We  should  let  the  divine  principle  of 
love  extend  to  the  schools.  Children  are  capable  of  loving 
in  a  high  degree.  They  may,  therefore,  be  governed  by 
love." 

We  turn  now  to  Robert  Owen,  an  Englishman,  who  had 
some  good  views  on  education.  The  period  of  his  promi- 
nent educational  activity  falls  between  the  times  of  Benja- 
min Rush  and  those  of  Horace  Mann.  Owen's  service  to 
education  was  the  attempt  to  show  that  it  is  the  one  thing 
lightening  the  lot  of  the  laboring  classes.  It  was  his  great 
desire  to  see  the  question  of  education  taken  up  by  the 
English  nation  in  the  truest  and  most  liberal  spirit.  He  was 
convinced  that  a  higher  sense  of  justice  would  come  through 
a  higher,  better,  and  more  general  instruction.  He  saw  that 
the  factory  system  and  child  labor,  such  as  it  was  found  in 
his  time,  was  unjust,  and  detrimental  to  the  formation  of 
character.     He  believed  that  the  children  of  manufacturing 


46  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

as  well  as  of  other  communities  should  remain  longer  in 
school.  He  stood  for  a  national  system  of  education  for  all 
classes,  and  insisted  on  at  least  seven  years  of  training  in 
school.  To  carry  out  his  ideals  on  education  he  founded  a 
school  at  New  Lanark,  in  Scotland,  where  he  had  charge  of 
some  factories.  In  this  school,  system  was  added  to  the 
spirit  of  Pestalozzi.  It  was  a  marked  success  until  Owen  be- 
came unpopular  on  account  of  his  social  and  religious  views. 
/    As  already  intimated,  in  Owen's  opinion  the  rundamental 

/object  of  education  is  the  formation  of  character.  The 
teachers  at  New  Lanark  were  chosen  for  their  good  temper, 
patience  and  a  strong  love  for  children,  not  for  their  intel- 

1  leatual  acquirements.  Owen  insi'sted  that  his  teachers 
should  make  due  allowance  for  the  varied  natural  character 
of  each  child.  He  was  especially  interested  in  his  "infant 
school,"  which  was  attended  by  children  of  from  one  to  six 
years  of  age.  He  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  teachers  to 
carry  out  his  ideas  in  this  school.  He  says,  *'It  was  in  vain 
to  look  to  any  old  teachers  upon  the  old  system  of  instruc- 
tion by  books."  They  could  not  and  would  not  attempt  to 
adopt  his  fanciful  and  ''new  fangled"  mode  of  teaching.  He 
continues :  "I  had  therefore  to  seek  among  the  population 
(of  New  Lanark)  for  two  persons  who  had  a  great  love  for 
and  unlimited  patience  with  infants,  and  who  were  thor- 
oughly tractable  and  willing  unreservedly  to  follow  my  in- 
structions." The  two  persons  whom  he  got  as  teachers  in 
his  rational  infant  school  were  "the  simple-minded  kind- 
hearted  weaver,  James  Buchanan,  who  at  first  could  scarce- 
ly read,  write  or  spell,  and  a  young  woman,  about  seventeen 
years  of  age,  known  familiarly  among  the  villagers  as  Molly 
Young."  The  first  instruction  which  Owen  gave  these  two 
was,  "That  they  were  on  no  account  ever  to  beat  any  one  of 
the  children,  or  to  threaten  them  in  any  manner  in  word  or 
action,  or  to  use  abusive  terms;  but  were  always  to  speak 
to  them  with  a  pleasant  countenance  and  in  a  kind  manner 
and  tone  of  voice.  That  they  should  tell  the  infants  and 
children  that  they  must  on  all  occasions  do  all  they  could 
to  make  their  playfellows  happy, — and  that  the  older  ones, 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        47 

from  four  to  six  years  of  age,  should  take  especial  care  of 
the  younger  ones,  and  should  assist  to  teach  them  in  making 
each  other  happy."  Owen  adds:  "These  instructions  were 
readily  received  by  James  Buchanan  and  Molly  Young,  and 
were  faithfully  adhered  to  by  them  as  long  as  they  remained 
in  their  respective  situations." 

The  infants  and  young  children  in  Owen's  school  at  New 
Lanark,  besides  being  instructed  by  sensible  signs, — the 
things  themselves, — or  models  or  paintings, — and  by  famil- 
iar conversation,  were  from  two  years  and  upwards  daily 
taught  dancing  and  singing,  and  the  parents  were  encour- 
aged to  come  and  see  their  children  at  any  of  their  lessons 
or  physical  exercises.  Owen  says  that  while  these  children 
were  at  school  they  were  by  far  the  happiest  human  beings 
he  ever  saw.  In  addition  to  the  infant  school  there  were 
day  schools  for  all  under  twelve  years  old,  after  which  age 
they  might,  if  their  parents  wished,  enter  the  works  at  New 
Lanark  either  as  mechanics,  manufacturers,  or  in  any  branch 
of  work.  The  school  hours  were  daily  from  7  to  9;  10  to  12 
and  3  to  5.  In  the  infant  school  one-half  of  the  time  was 
spent  in  playing.  '''The  children  were  not  to  be  annoyed 
with  books." 

We  need  not  here  go  into  details  of  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion at  New  Lanark.  Our  purpose  is  to  show  the  spirit  in 
which  this  work  was  conducted  and  to  show  the  attitude  of 
Owen  toward  the  child  and  its  education.  His  schools  at- 
tracted practically  world  wide  attention..  From  181 5  to 
1825,  20,000  persons  visited  the  New  Lanark  schools.  This 
is  a  larger  number  than  those  who  visited  the  schools  of 
Pestalozzi.  Owen  saw  the  bad  influence  of  the  poor  home 
surroundings  of  the  children  in  his  community.  His  schools 
were  designed  to  overcome  these  influences  and  to  be  prime 
factors  in  the  formation  of  character.  For  this  reason  the 
children  were  admitted  to  school  as  soon  as  they  could 
walk;  were  there  treated  kindly  and  taught  rationally.  He 
was  the  first  man  to  work  earnestly  for  the  laboring  classes. 
His  conception  of  education  was  national  and  just.     As 


48  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

previously  stated,  he  failed  because  of  his  social  and  relig- 
ious beliefs. 

Robert  Owen,  Benjamin  Rush  and  Horace  Mann  each 
stood  for  the  education  of  all  classes.  Rush  and  Mann  saw 
the  need  of  educating  all  classes  in  order  to  perpetuate  the 
spirit  of  democracy ;  Owen,  moved  by  a  spirit  of  social  jus- 
tice, felt  the  need  of  education  among  the  laboring  classes 
who  were  sorely  neglected  in  his  time.  The  three  demand- 
ed knowledge  most  useful  to  the  masses,  and  pleaded  for  a 
humane  spirit  in  imparting  this  knowledge.  Eadi  had  in 
view  the  making  of  good,  happy  and  useful  citizens,  and  each 
saw  in  the  careful  and  kindly  training  of  the  young  the 
means  to  this  higher  end.  When  we  come  to  Thomas  Ar- 
nold, whose  method  of  discipline  we  shall  presently  discuss, 
we  find  a  man  of  a  different  type,  a  man  who  was  not  demo- 
cratic in  his  views  on  public  education.  Nevertheless,  as  a 
great  disciplinarian,  wihose  work  and  influence  completely 
transformed  the  Secondary  Schools  of  England,  Arnold 
must  occupy  an  important  place  in  our  present  discussion. 

Thomas  Arnold  was  appointed  head-master  of  Rugt)y  in 
1828,  and  it  was  in  this  position  that  he  became  famous  as  a 
ruler  and  administrator.  He  had  an  oppressive  sen^e  of  the 
difficulty  of  his  task  as  head-master,  and  also  of  its  possibili- 
ties. "The  management  of  boys,"  said  he,  "has  all  the  inter- 
est of  a  great  game  of  chess,  with  living  creatures  for  pawns 
and  pieces,  and  your  adversary,  in  plain  English,  the  devil, 
w!ho  truly  plays  a  tough  game  and  is  hard  to  beat." 

When  Arnold  came  to  Rugby  the  state  of  morals  was  dis- 
heartening. Drunkenness  and  swearing  were  common 
vices.  There  were  combinations  for  evil;  the  bad  ridiculed 
and  persecuted  the  good  and  the  pupils  in  general  were  ir- 
religious. In  fact,  this  was  a  state  of  affairs  common  in  Eng- 
lish Secondary  Schools  of  the  time. 

Arnold  tried  first  to  accept  and  turn  to  use  whatever  good 
there  was  in  the  system  at  Rugby.  Next  he  began  to  mod- 
ify and  improve  the  system  as  far  as  experience  enabled  him 
to  make  sure  of  his  ground.  He  first  sought  and  won  the 
confidence  of  the  older  boys.    "I  want  you  to  feel,"  he  used 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        49 

to  say  to  them,  "how  enormous  is  the  influence  you  possess 
here  on  all  below  you."  He  believed  that  one  way  of  mak- 
ing a  boy  a  gentleman  was  to  treat  him  as  one.  He  always 
took  a  boy's  word,  hence  it  came  to  be  the  current  opinion 
of  the  school  that  it  was  a  shame  to  tell  Arnold  a  lie,  for  he 
always  believed  it. 

Arnold  felt  the  need  of  a  moral  basis  for  all  school  work. 
With  him  mental  gifts  and  moral  principles  had  to  go  hand 
in  hand.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  expel  a  boy  if  he  was  sure 
his  influence  tended  to  degrade  the  public  opinion  of  the 
school,  or  that  he  was  seriously  detrimental  to  his  oompan- 
ions.  The  confirmed  idler  he  expelled  without  scrupple  on 
account  of  his  influence  upon  other  boys.  Parents  and  boys 
at  first  protested  against  expulsion.  Arnold  silenced  them 
by  firmly  declaring :  *'It  is  not  necessary  that  this  should  be 
a  school  ifor  three  hundred,  or  even  one  hundred  boys,  but  it 
is  necessary  that  it  should  be  a  school  of  Christian  gentle- 
men." 

Arnold's  aim  was  to  give  a  Christian  tone  to  Rugfcy,  yet 
he  did  not  resort  to  definite  dogmatic  teaching.  His  school 
sermons  were  filled  with  inspiration  for  the  boys.  He 
preached  as  to  boys  and  not  as  to  men.  Of  all  the  evils  he 
sought  to  expose  and  denounce  in  his  sermons,  probably 
the  worst  was  the  cowardice  which  made  boys  succumb  to 
the  public  opinion  of  tihe  set  in  which  they  happened  to  live. 

Arnold  insisted  constantly  on  mental  cultivation  as  a  re- 
ligious duty.  Throughout  his  school  sermons  there  is  much 
less  of  theological  teaching  than  an  endeavor  to  illustrate 
the  bearing  of  Christianity  on  the  daily  practical  life  of  the 
school  boys.  From  the  testimony  of  the  boys  we  know 
that  these  sermons  did  probably  more  than  anything  else 
to  reform  Rugby. 

Thomas  Arnold  did  not  profess  to  be  much  in  advance  of 
his  age  in  regard  to  school  punishments.  He  resorted  to 
flogging,  especially  among  the  younger  boys.  As  he  gained 
experience  he  inflicted  it  with  increasing  reluctance.  He 
confined  it  chiefly  to  moral  offences  such  as  lying,  drinking 
and  habitual  idleness.     He  regarded  it  wholly  unsuited  as 


50  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

the  penalty  for  intellectual  weakness  or  dullness.  He  did 
not,  however,  like  Benjamin  Rush,  consider  it  as  degrading. 
In  his  opinion  corporal  punishment  answered  to  the  natural 
inferior  state  of  boyhood,  and,  therefore,  conveyed  no  de- 
gradation. 

On  this  latter  point  the  German  philosopher  and  edu- 
cator, Rosenkranz,  a  contemporary  of  Arnold,  expresses  a 
similar  view.  Rosenkranz  says :  "The  view  which  sees  in 
the  rod  the  panacea  for  all  the  teacher's  embarrassments  is 
reprehensible,  but  equally  so  is  the  false  sentimentahty 
which  assumes  that  the  dignity  of  humanity  is  affected  by  a 
blow  given  to  a  child,  and  confounds  self-conscious  human- 
ity with  child  humanity,  to  which  a  blow  is  the  most  natural 
form  of  reaction,  when  all  other  forms  of  influence  have 
failed."  Numerous  other  educators  and  teachers  have  ex- 
pressed, and  are  still  expressing,  a  hke  view  on  this  ques- 
tion. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  reasons  for  Arnold's  in- 
fluence over  the  boys  of  Rugby:  He  knew  the  individual 
characteristics  of  his  boys.  He  knew  every  boy  in  school, 
— his  appearance,  his  habits  and  his  companions.  He  was 
not  always  genial  in  manner  and  the  younger  boys  regarded 
him  with  awe.  He  encouraged  games  and  sports,  but  did 
not  emphasize  athletics  unduly.  He  emphasized  the  intel- 
lectual rather  than  the  physical.  His  influence  showed  it- 
self among  the  boys  of  Rugby  who  went  to  Universities. 
These  boys  had  a  more  serious  purpose  in  life  than  was 
found  among  ordinary  school  boys. 

According  to  Arnold,  as  well  as  according  to  Ro^bert 
Owen  and  others,  a  school  was,  first  of  all,  a  place  for  the 
formation  of  character,  next  a  place  for  learning  and  study 
as  a  means  to  this  higher  end.  Such  a  place  he  succeeded, 
to  a  large  extent,  in  making  of  Rugiby.  To  accomplish  this, 
under  existing  conditions,  required  the  power  of  effective 
discipline,  and  to-day  there  is  hardly  a  more  stimulating 
character  for  study  as  a  disciplinarian  than  Thomas  Arnold. 

Another  practical  English  schoolman  of  the  last  century 
was  Robert  H.  Quick.     His  main  educational  service  was 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        51 

to  bring  teachers  in  touch  with  educational  literature — 
with  educational  leaders  and  reformers.  In  this  respect  he 
performed  for  England  a  service  similar  to  that  performed 
by  Henry  Barnard  for  America,  and  by  Gabriel  Compayre 
for  France. 

Quick  was  also  a  teacher,  and  as  such,  he  gives  us  some 
interesting  observatioms  on  school  discipline.  In  his  educa- 
tional practice  he  represents  a  reaction  against  formaHsm 
and  toward  Pestalozziani&m.  He  was  against  stern  disci- 
pline. He  was  a  sworn  foe  to  all  methods  of  repression, 
such  as  absolute  silence  in  the  classroom,  keeping  a  tight 
hand  on  boys,  especially  at  tne  close  of  the  term,  allowing 
no  shouting  on  the  playground,  and  so  on.  In  his  earlier 
career  as  a  teacher,  he  resorted  to  corporal  punishment ;  in 
his  later  career  he  was  opposed  to  it. 

An  experiment,  which  he  performed  on  himself,  helped  to 
determine  his  attitude  toward  corporal  punishment.  He 
ispeaks  of  it  as  follows :  ''When  I  was  a  Hurstierpont  we  all 
used  the  cane.  It  occurred  to  me  that  we  could  not  well 
judge  of  the  amount  of  pain  inflicted,  and  I  experimented 
on  myself  by  giving  myself  a  sharp  'pandy.'  Of  course,  the 
experiment  could  not  be  quite  satisfactory  for  I  could  not 
take  the  attitude  toward  myself  that  the  boys  took  toward 
me."  As  a  result  of  this  experiment  Quick's  practice  in  the 
future  was  decidedly  modified. 

One  of  his  old  pupils,  writing  of  Cranleigh,  where  Quick 
taught  for  some  time,  said,  years  after,  that  he  remembered 
Quick,  the  man,  not  the  subject  studied  under  him.  This 
same  pupil  said  that  he  remembered  Quick  only  once  angry. 
''Of  course,"  this  pupil  adds,  "he  did  not  strike." 

Although  opposed  to  corporal  punishment  Quick  felt 
that  certain  "mala  prohi'bita"  had  to  be  kept  under  by  some 
form  of  punishment.  "Simulated  anger,"  says  he,  "can 
never  be  effectual  and  the  master  employing  it  only  risks  his 
own  good  temper  by  endeavoring  to  spare  the  boys."  The 
teacher  ought  to  distinguish  between  offences.  For  exam- 
ple, lying  should  be  punished  more  than  whispering.  You 
ought  to  annex  certain  penalties  to  trifling,  but  growing 


52  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

offences  and  exact  these  penalties  with  a  mechanical  and 
feelingless  precision.  The  boy  who  does  not  think  he  is 
'spited'  will  not  feel  angry. 

''Forbear  threatening,"  says  Quick,  "is  a  good  rule  but 
hard  to  stand  by."  It  is  a  question  whether  the  first  offence 
should  be  forgiven.  At  all  events  threatening  to  do  'so  and 
so'  next  time  is  a  bad  plan  in  a  school.  Here  is  another 
quotation  from  Quick:  "The  reformers  say,  'cease  to  make 
the  work  unpleasant  and  you  may  give  up  punishing.'  This 
is  a  'non  sequitur.'  The  pleasure  of  school  work  must  be 
compared  with  the  pleasure  afforded  by  other  things  the 
boy  Hkes." 

The  following  are  some  more  of  Quick's  views  on  disci- 
pline :  A  boy  will  need  repression  at  times  no  matter  how 
well  the  school  runs.  If  no  punishment  is  given,  careless- 
ness becomes  unmonded.  If  given,  it  brings  the  master  in 
contact  with  boys  in  a  disagreeable  way.  The  master  must 
not  let  his  spirits  give  way;  if  he  does,  "all  is  up."  Every- 
thing he  has  to  do  becomes  a  bore,  and  he  himself  becomes 
a  bore  to  those  under  him.  He  loses  his  hold  of  boys  and 
vainly  endeavors  to  get  it  again  by  setting  impositions. 

Impositions,  says  Quick,  are  not  of  any  great  use.  Too 
often  they  are  set  rather  as  a  vent  for  annoyance  felt  by  the 
teacher  than  for  the  good  effect  on  the  boy.  "To  be  re- 
spected like  a  wasp  is,  because  it  can  sting,  is  destructive  of 
good  feeling." 

Be  as  impersonal  as  possible,  is  Quick's  advice.  Let  cer- 
tain transgressions  be  sure  to  bring  certain  punishments. 
Certainty  is  more  important  than  amount.  A  boy  is  not 
deterred  from  whispering  in  class  by  the  risk  of  a  hundred 
lines,  but  he  is  by  the  certainty  of  thirty.  "Don't  give  col- 
lective punishments,"  says  Quick.  Chesterfield's  advice  is 
good :  "Never  attack  whole  bodies  of  any  kind.  Individuals 
forgive  sometimes,  but  bodies  and  societies  never  do." 

We  have  already  seen  that  Thomas  Arnold  made  effective 
use  of  appeal  to  honor  as  a  means  of  discipHne.  We  may 
suppose  that  R.  H.  Quick  also  realized  the  value  of  this 
means  of  discipline.     That  he  saw  its  dangers  and  defects 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        53 

is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  he  declared  the  vain  appeal  to 
honor  to  be  hurtful  because  it  lessens  its  appreciation  as  a 
virtue.  He  also  says  that  you  cannot  prevent  'ponying'  by 
an  appeal  to  honor. 

Robert  H.  Quick  was  not  a  really  great  disciplinarian  like 
Thomas  Arnold.  There  is  more  frankness,  more  of  the 
really  human,  vv^ith  its  limitations,  in  Quick  than  in  any  oth- 
er schoolman  we  shall  discuss.  The  advice  he  gives  on  the 
subject  of  discipline  is  thoroughly  good;  and  the  honest, 
straightforward  manner  in  which  he  expresses  himself  can- 
not fail  to  appeal  to  the  average  teacher. 

From  the  two  practical  schoolmen,  Thomas  Arnold  and 
R.  H.  Quick,  we  turn  to  Herbert  Spencer,  a  prominent  the- 
orist on  education.  We  have  already  referred  to  Spencer, 
while  discussing  the  influence  of  the  introduction  of  science 
into  the  school  curriculum.  We  know  that,  under  the  dis- 
cussion of  what  knowledge  iis  of  most  worth,  'he  presents 
the  claims  of  science  in  a  masterful  way.  However,  we  are 
concerned  here,  not  so  much  with  his  discussion  of  what 
knowledge  is  of  most  worth,  nor  with  his  discussions  of  in- 
tellectual and  of  physical  education.  We  here  wish  to  in- 
quire into  his  essay  on  Moral  Education.  In  this  essay 
Spencer  nearly  always  refers  to  the  discipline  of  one  child, 
or  of  several  children,  in  the  home.  Sometimes  he  says 
parents  and  teachers  do,  or  fail  to  do,  thus  and  so ;  but  no- 
where have  we  found  him  saying  anything  specific  with  re- 
gard to  disciplining  a  school.  He  does  say,  in  a  general  way, 
that  discipline  in  schools  is  often  misdirected,  and  too  se- 
vere ;  and  that  better  results  are  obtained  in  schools  having 
a  milder  form  of  discipline  than  in  those  where  pupils  get  a 
beating  for  almost  every  kind  of  misdemeanor. 

The  theory  of  punishment  which  Spencer  proposes  and 
seeks  to  defend  in  his  usual  clear  and  brilliant  way  is  that 
of  natural  consequences.  This  theory,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  was  suggested  by  Rousseau.  According  to  Spencer, 
children,  who  are  at  all  old  enough  to  understand,  should, 
as  far  as  possible,  'be  made  to  sufifer  the  natural  conse- 
quences  of  their   faults   or   shortcomings.      Experience   is 


54  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

the  valuable  teacher  it  is  known  to  be,  only  because  it  rests 
upon  knowledge  of  consequences.  The  .man  who,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  is  late  will,  as  a  result,  have  the  displeasure 
of  missing  the  train  or  steamer  which  he  may  have  wished 
to  take.  So  the  child,  who  is  never  ready  when  some  one 
wishes  to  take  his  brothers  and  sisters  for  a  walk  into  the 
country,  instead  of  being  scolded  and  waited  for,  should  be 
made  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  his  actions  by  being  left 
at  home.  The  boy  who  carelessly  loses  his  penknife,  instead 
of  receiving  a  scolding,  and  then  a  new  knife  from  an  indul- 
gent parent,  should  be  obliged  to  go  without  a  knife,  or  to 
buy  one  out  of  his  own  spending  money.  In  short,  children 
should  be  made  to  feel  the  consequences  of  their  faults  and 
errors  in  the  same  way  that  adults  are.  The  more  consist- 
ently this  can  be  done  the  better  it  will  be  for  them. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  arguments  which  Spencer 
presents  in  favor  of  this  doctrine  of  natural  consequences: 
In  the  first  place,  rigfit  conceptions  of  cause  and  effect  are 
early  formed.  Such  conceptions  are  essential  to  proper  con- 
duct in  life.  Secondly,  it  is  a  system  of  pure  justice  and  will 
be  recognized  by  every  child  as  such.  Thirdly,  it  makes  pun- 
ishment impersonal  and,  therefore,  is  not  likely  to  cause  an 
unnatural  feeling  between  parents  and  children.  The  child 
receives  its  penalties  through  the  working  of  things  rather 
than  at  the  hands  of  the  individual,  and  so  its  temper  will  be 
less  disturbed ;  while  the  parent,  occupying  the  compara- 
tively passive  position  of  taking  care  that  the  natural  pen- 
alties are  felt,  will  consequently,  be  more  composed.  As  a 
result  a  much  happier,  and  a  more  influential  state  of  feeling 
will  exist  between  parent  and  child. 

After  discussing  some  of  the  graver  faults  of  children, 
such  as  'lying  and  theft,  in  relation  to  the  theory  of  conse- 
quences, Spencer  gives  the  following  rules  and  maxims: 
I.     Do  not  expect  from  a  child  any  great  amount  of  mor- 
al goodness.     During  its  first  years  the  child  passes 
through  the  stage  of  life  of  its  baiibarous  ancestors. 
Therefore  be  content  with  moderate  measures  and 
moderate  results. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        55 

2.  Do  not  seek  to  behave  as  an  utterly  passionless  in- 
strument— Your  own  approbation  or  disapprobation 
is  also  a  natural  consequence. 

3.  Be  sparing  of  commands. 

4.  Whenever  you  do  command,  command  v^ith  decision 
and  constancy. 

5!^  Remember  that  the  aim  of  your  discipline  should  be 
to  produce  a  self-governing  being;  not  to  produce  a 
being  governed  by  others. 

6.  Do  not  regret  the  exhibition  of  considerable  self- 
will  on  the  part  of  your  children.     The  independent 

boy  is  the  father  of  the  independent  men. 

7.  Remember  that  it  is  a  complex  and  extremely  diffi- 
cult thing  to  educate  rightly. 

The  theory  of  natural  consequences  is  suggestive,  and  it 
has  no  doubt  1)een  productive,  at  least  indirectly,  of  good  re- 
sults. Its  mterits  and  demerits  have  been  pointed  out  by  a 
number  of  educational  thinkers  since  the  time  it  was  elabo- 
rated and  emphasized  by  Spencer.  The  Essay  on  Moral 
Education,  in  which  the  theory  appears,  was  published  in 
1858.  In  1871,  Joseph  Payne,  an  English  educator,  who  in- 
sisted that  there  is  a  Science  of  Education,  who  popular- 
ized this  idea  and  who  said  many  excellent  things  on  educa- 
tion, wrote  what  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  best  criti- 
cisms of  Spencer's  theory.  Payne  says  that  nature's  art  of 
teaching  is,  in  a  general  way,  the  archetype  of  the  educa- 
tor's ;  yet  nature  must  not  be  implicitly  followed.  So  in  dis- 
cipline, nature  is  relentless.  "She  takes  no  account  of  ex- 
tenuating circumstances.  To  disobey  is  to  die.  She  not 
only  punishes  the  offender  for  his  offence,  but  often  makes 
him  suffer  for  the  offences  of  others.  She  involves  him  in 
all  the  consequences  of  his  actions,  and  often  gives  him  no 
opportunity  for  repentance.  The  educator,  on  the  other 
hand,  while  allowing  his  pupil  to  be  visited  by  the  conse- 
quences of  his  actions,  is  to  prevent  ruinous  consequences 
— ^to  give  him  room  for  repentance,  to  love  the  offender 
while  punishing  the  offence,  and  to  allow  for  extenuating 
circumstances."    Alexander  Bain,  as  we  shall  see  later,  also 


56  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

objected  to  the  theory  of  natural  consequences.  Among 
present  day  writers,  who  discuss  Spencer's  theory,  may  be 
mentioned  Bagley,  who  calls  it  the  most  thorough  going 
theory  of  discipline  that  has  yet  been  elaborated,  and  says 
that  "it  has  had  a  profound  effect  upon  educational  prac- 
tice." 

We  now  proceed  to  Alexander  Bain.  In  his  "Education 
as  a  Science,"  published  in  1879,  ^^^^  have  the  monumental 
\  work  of  a  great  thinker.  He  takes  the  greatest  step  in  the 
\Science  of  Education  of  any  thinker  before  or  since  his 
time.  The  subject  of  school  discipline  he  discusses  accord- 
ing to  the  analytical  method  characteristic  of  his  writings. 
Referring  to  this  subject  first  in  a  general  or  summary  man- 
ner he  says :  "By  degrees  we  have  become  aware  of  various 
errors  that  ran  through  the  former  methods  of  discipline, 
in  the  several  institutions  of  the  state,  as  well  as  in  the  fam- 
ily. We  have  discovered  the  eviil  of  working  by  fear  alone, 
and  still  more  by  fear  of  coarse,  painful  and  degrading  in- 
flictions. We  have  discovered  that  occasions  of  offence  can 
be  avoided  by  a  variety  of  salutary  arrangements,  such  as 
to  check  the  very  disposition  to  unruly  conduct.  We  con- 
sider that  a  great  discovery  has  been  made  in  regard  to  pun- 
ishments, by  the  enunciation  of  the  maxim  that  certainty  is 
more  important  than  severity;  to  which  should  be  added 
proportion  to  the  offence.  We  also  consider  that  by  a  suit- 
alble  training  or  education  the  dispositions  that  lead  to  dis- 
order and  crime  can  be  checked  in  the  bud ;  and  that,  until 
there  has  been  room  for  such  training  to  operate,  the  mind 
should  not  be  exposed  to  temptation." 

Bain's  discussion  of  the  subject  of  authority  is  suggestive. 
Authority  first  appears  in  the  family  and  is  thence  trans- 
ferred, with  certain  modifications,  to  the  school.  The  par- 
ent's authority  is  associated  with  sustenance,  and  has  an  al- 
most unlimited  range.  It  is  tempered  by  affection  and  sup- 
poses a  limited  number.  The  teacher's  authority  has,  as  a 
rule,  nothing  to  do  with  sustenance.  Because  of  the  large 
number  under  his  charge  the  teacher's  authority  cannot. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        57 

g-enerally,  be  tempered  by  the  same  amount  of  afifection  as 
the  parent's. 

On  the  other  hand,  Bain  points  out  some  important 
agreements  between  the  family  and  the  school.  They  both 
deal  with  immature  minds  for  whom  certain  kinds  of  motives 
are  unsuitable.  They  cannot  appeal  to  consequences  in  the 
distant  future  for  children  do  not  realize  a  remote  effect. 
Neither  can  the  reasons  of  a  rule  always  be  made  apparent 
to  immature  minds.  Where  they  can,  however,  parents  and 
teachers  should  do  so  as  an  important  aid  to  obedience.. 

Among  the  important  points  of  agreement  in  the  exercise 
of  authority  in  every  sphere — ^family,  school  and  state — 
Bain  mentions  the  following : — 

1.  Restraints  should  be  as  few  as  the  situation  admits 
of.: 

2.  Duties  and  offences  should  be  definitely  expressed, 
so  as  to  be  clearly  understood. 

3.  Offences  should  be  graduated  according  to  their  de- 
gree of  heinousness. 

4.  Punishments,  if  given,  should  outweigh  the  profit  of 
the  offence. 

5.  Trust  voluntary  dispositions  as  far  as  they  can  go. 

6.  Organize  and  arrange  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  occa- 
sions of  disorder. 

7.  Exercise  authority  with  a  certain  degree  of  formality. 

8.  Let  it  be  understood,  wherever  possible,  that  author- 
ity exists  for  the  benefit  of  the  governed. 

9.  Avoid  vindictiveness. 

10.  So  far  as  circumstances  allow,  assume  a  benign  char- 
acter, using  instruction  and  moral  suasion. 

11.  Make  the  reasons  for  repression  and  discipline  intel- 
ligible, as  far  as  possible. 

Bain  mentions  a  number  of  aids  to  discipline.  Among 
these  are,  first,  good  physical  surroundings.  These  he  con- 
siders to  be  "half  the  battle."  A  spacious  and  airy  building; 
room  for  the  classes  to  come  together  and  to  depart  without 
confusion  or  collision ;  these  he  calls  prime  facilities  and  aids 
to   discipHne.      Organization,   or  method  and   orderly  ar- 


58  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

rangement  in  all  the  movements  of  classes  is  another  im- 
portant aid  to  discipline.  To  these  conditions  should  be 
added  due  alteration  and  remission  of  work  so  as  to  avoid 
fatigue. 

"^i  he  methods  and  arts  of  teaching  require  consideration 
as  aids  of  discipline.  The  most  important  condition  is 
clearness  of  explanations.  If  to  this,  interest  can  be  added 
so  much  the  better ;  but  it  must  not  be  at  the  expense  of 
clearness,  v^hich  is  absolutely  essential  to  make  the  subject 
comprehensible. 

Another  important  factor  in  discipHne  is  the  personaHty 
of  the  teacher — Here  are  considered  such  qualities  as  a  win- 
ning voice,  a  friendly  expression,  a  likable  exterior.  Also, 
on  the  other  side,  as  commanding  respect  for  authority,  a 
stately,  imposing  and  dignified  bearing,  without  display  of 
self-conceit. 

The  teacher  who  would  discipline  successfully  musft  have  a 
lively  and  wakeful  sense  of  everything  that  is  going  on  in  his 
school.  Hie  should  be  able  to  read  his  school  like  a  successful 
orator  reads  his  audience.  He  should  have  a  quiet  manner, 
which  does  not  give  an  impression  of  weakness  but  of  re- 
serve power.  \  He  should  secure  the  collective  opinion — , 
create  a  good  class  opinion — if  possible.  On  this  last  point 
Bain  says :  "It  is  easier  to  deserve  success  in  this  than  to 
command  it.  The  fear  is  that,  till  the  end  of  time,  the  sym- 
pathy of  numbers  will  continue  to  manifest  itself  against  au- 
thority in  the  school.  There  will  be  occasions  where  the  in- 
fection of  the  mass  is  a  stronghold  of  order ;  as  when  the 
majority  are  bent  on  attending  to  the  work,  and  are  thv/art- 
ed  'by  a  few  disturbers  of  the  peace ;  or  when  they  have  a 
general  sympathy  with  their  teacher,  and  merely  indulge 
themselves  in  rare  and  exceptional  outbursts.  While  a 
teacher's  merits  may  gain  for  him  this  position  of  advant- 
age, more  or  less,  he  is  never  above  the  risks  of  an  outbreak, 
and  must  be  ready  for  the  final  resort  of  repression  by  disci- 
pline or  penalties." 

We  now  proceed  to  give  a  brief  statement  of  Bain's  dis- 
cussion of  rewards  and  punishments.    He  finds  fault  with  the 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        59 

principle  of  emulation,  with  the  awarding  of  prizes  and  with 
place-taking.  He  admits  that  emulation,  is  a  powerful  in- 
centive to  intellectual  application ;  but  he  declares  that  it  is 
anti-social,  that  it  is  apt  to  be  too  energetic,  that  it  is  limited 
to  a  small  number  and  that  it  makes  a  merit  of  superior  nat- 
ural gifts. 

The  greater  prizes  and  distinctions  afifect  only  a  very  small 
number.  Place-capturing  afifects  all  more  or  less,  although 
in  the  lower  end  of  the  class,  position  is  of  small  co'use- 
quence.  "A  few  contesting  eagerly  for  being  first,  and  the 
mass  phlegmatic,"  says  Bain,  "is  not  a  healthy  class."  Prizes 
may  be  valuable  in  themselves,  and  also  a  token  oi  superior- 
ity ;  but  the  schoolmaster's  means  of  reward  is  chiefly  con- 
fined to  approbation  and  praise.  Marking,  which  Bain  ad- 
vocates, is  another  means  of  reward.  In  Bain's  opinion  there 
should  be  no  commendation  in  pubhc  which  does  not  reflect 
the  sentiment  of  the  school  body. 

"The  first  and  readiest,  and  ever  the  best  form  of  punish- 
ment," says  Bain,  "is  censure,  reprobation,  dispraise." 
These  must,  however,  be  used  with  the  same  care  as  praise. 
Strong  terms  of  reproof  should  be  sparing,  in  order  to  be 
more  effective.  Public  reproof  should  not  be  given  unless 
in  special  or  extreme  cases.  Simple  forms  of  disgrace  Bain 
does  not  entirely  condemn ;  although  he  sees  a  danger  of  a 
lessened  sense  of  shame.  Detention  from  play  he  considers 
to  be  an  effective  punishment.  Likewise  tasks  and  imposi- 
tions. Corporal  punishment  must  be  administered  only  as 
a  last  resort  in  extreme  cases.  It  should  not  be  repeated 
more  than  two  or  three  times  on  the  same  pupil.  If  such 
repetition  is  ineffective  the  pupil  should  be  expelled.' 

Bain  also  discusses  Spencer's  doctrine  of  natural  punish- 
ments, and  distinguishes  between  these  and  Bentham's 
characteristical  punishments.  The  characteristical  punish- 
ment of  a  boy  for  throwing  things  on  the  floor  is  to  oblige 
him  to  pick  them  up;  the  natural  punishment  would  be  to 
let  such  things  accumulate  until  it  would  become  impossible 
for  the  boy  to  hve  in  the  room.  Bain's  objection  to  natural 
punishments  is,  that  they  are  too  severe,  and  that  the  pu- 


60  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

piis  probably  cannot  see  how  the  punishment  is  a  conse- 
quence of  the  offence. 

A  paragraph  from  the  chapter  on  Moral  Education  in 
''Education  as  a  Science,"  shall  conclude  our  remarks  on 
Alexander  Bain.  We  hear  a  great  deal  nowadays  about 
morality  in  the  public  schools.  In  the  paragraph  which  I 
am  about  to  quote  Bain  points  out  a  truth  which  is  recog- 
nized by  educational  thinkers,  and  which  can  hardly  be  em- 
phasized too  strongly.  He  says:  "The  schoolmaster,  in 
common  with  all  persons  exercising  control  for  a  particular 
purpose,  is  a  moral  teacher  or  disciplinarian;  contributing 
his  part  to  impress  good  and  evil  consequences  in  connection 
with  conduct.  For  his  own  ends,  he  has  to  regulate  the  ac- 
tions of  his  pupils,  to  approve  and  disapprove  of  what  they 
do  as  social  beings  related  to  one  another  and  to  himself. 
He  enforces  and  cultivates  obedience,  punctuality,  truthful- 
ness, fair  dealing,  courteous  and  considerate  behavior,  and 
whatever  else  belongs  to  the  working  of  the  school.  Who- 
ever is  able  to  maintain  the  order  and  discipline  necessary 
to  merely  intellectual  or  knowledge  teaching,  will  leave 
upon  the  minds  of  his  pupils  genuine  moral  impressions, 
without  even  proposing  that  as  an  end.  M  the  teacher  has 
the  consummation  of  tact  that  makes  the  pupils  to  any  de- 
gree in  love  with  the  work,  so  as  to  make  them  submit  with 
dheerful  and  willing  minds  to  all  the  needful  restraints,  and 
to  render  them  on  the  whole  well  disposed  to  himself  and  to 
each  other,  he  is  a  moral  instructor  of  a  high  order,  whether 
he  means  it  or  not." 


Conclusion 

We  have  pointed  out  a  number  of  factors  which  enter 
into  the  evolution  of  the  modern  concept  of  school  disci- 
pline, a  concept  which  no  longer  finds  in  the  rod  the  panacea 
for  all  evils,  but  which  involves,  as  we  have  seen,  a  number 
of  important   considerations.     We   have     also     discussed 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        61 

briefly  the  theoriies,  as  well  as  .the  practices,  of  several  re- 
cent educational  thinkers  with  reference  to  the  question  of 
discipline.  In  the  Hght  of  some  of  the  views  and  suggestions 
that  have  been  presented,  let  us,  in  conclusion,  add  a  few 
thoughts  on  the  subject  under  consideration. 

As  pointed  out  by  Benjamin  Rush,  Alexander  Bain  and 
some  other  thinkers,  whom  we  have  mentioned,  the  success 
of  the  teacher,  both  in  imparting  knowledge  and  as  a  disci- 
plinarian— ^for  the  two  go  hand  in  hand — depends  largely 
upon  his  personality  and  upon  the  spirit  with  which  he  is^ 
imbued.     The  teacher  who,  like  Thomas  Arnold,  feels  that 
education  means  something  to  those  under  his  charge;  who 
is  convinced  that  mental  cultivation  is  a  sacred  duty;  will 
naturally  assume  an  attitude  toward  his  work,  which  goes  a 
long  way  toward  making  him  respected  by  his  pupils.     If, 
with  this  spirit,  he  remembers  Bain's  observation  that  clear-^ 
ness  of  explanations  is  absolutely  essential,  and  deveilops* 
skill  in  realizing  this  latter  point,  his  problems  of  discipline 
will  be  still  further  solved.     Or  he  may  be  a  Herbartian  and 
proceed  according  to  the  theory  of  apperception  and  inter-/K 
est ;  nevertheless  he  needs  some  of  the  spirit  of  Arnold,  or, 
probably  better  still,  of  Pestalozzi,  of  Mann,  of  Owen,  the 
spirit  which  sees  in  the  child,  a  lovable  soul,  and  in  educa-A 
tion,  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  race.  ^ 

If,  though  imbued  with  these  high  ideals  and  skilled  in 
methods,  the  teacher  finds,  some  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments, which  he  almost  certainly  will,  let  him  remember 
Mann's  advice,  and  be  pajtient  with  inconsiderateness  in  the 
young.  He  will  find  slow  children.  Let  him  remember,  as  >^ 
Ascham  says,  not  to  punish  nature ;  or,  better  still,  let  him 
bear  in  mind  some  of  the  lessons  which  modern  child  study 
has  brought  to  light  with  reference  to  the  backward  child. 
If  he  finds,  as  he  likely  will,  that  penalties  must  be  imposed 
for  certain  forms  of  misconduct,  let  him  follow  R.  H. 
Quick's  advice  on  certainty  instead  of  occasional  severity.  ♦ 
And,  finally,  if  he  finds  a  deliberately 'impudent  or  unreason- 
ably obstinate  boy,,  as  he  may,  occasionally,  sooner  than  ex- 
pel him,  let  him,  wherever  allowed  by  law,  follow  G.  Stanley 


62         The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

Halfs  advice  and,  without  much  delay,  g^ive  him  such  a 
flogging  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  him  humble  enough 
to  respect  authority.  For,  after  all  that  has  been  said,  our 
experience  leads  us  to  believe  with  Hall  that,  ''The  better 
nature  of  some  obstinate  ,impudent,  vicious  boys  fairly  cries 
^  out  for  the  rod,  so  gre'at  is  their  need  of  it."  We  know 
only  too  well  that  the  rod  has  been  shamefully  abused ;  bult 
*  we  believe  that  it  o^n  still  occasionally  perform  a  good  func- 
tion in  the  school. 


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The  Arnolds,  by  Sir  Joshua  Fitch.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 
New  York,  1897.  Chapter  5  contains  an  account  of 
Thomas  Arnold  as  a  disciplinarian. 

Arnold,  Thomas.  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Educa- 
tion. Vol.  28,  pp.  770  ff.  Gives  Arnold's  views  on  disci- 
pline. 

Arnold,  Life  of,  by  Dean  Stanley.    Best  work  on  Arnold. 

Ascham,  Roger,  Scholemaster.  Edited  by  Edward  Arber. 
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Ascham,  Roger.  Barnard's  Journal,  Vol.  2,  pp.  57  ff. 
Quotes  Asc'ham's  views  and  suggestions  on  discipline. 

Bagley,  William  Chandler,  Classroom  Management.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  -1907.  Chapter  8  contains  a 
discussion  of  Spencer's  doctrine  of  natural  punishments. 

Bain,  Alexander.  Education  as  a  Science.  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  New  York,  1879.  See'  latter  'part  of  Chapter  3  and 
Chapter  12,  for  his  discussion  of  discipline. 

Barnard,  Henry  (Editor).  American  Journal  of  Education. 
31  volumes.     Invaluable  for  reference. 

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The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        63 

reasons  why  school  discipilne  has  become  more  humane. 

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Erasmus.  Barnard's  Journal.  Vol.  16,  pp.  680  fif.  Gives 
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64  The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

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Mann,  Horace,  by  B.  A.  Hinsdale.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 
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Mann,  Mrs.  Mary.  Life  and  Works  of  Horace  Mann.  5 
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Mann,  Horace.  Barnard's  Journal.  Vol.  5,  pp.  611.  Con- 
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valuable. 

McMaster,  John  Bach.  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States.  Vol.  i.  Pages  24-28  contain  an  interesting  ac- 
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century. 

Monroe,  Paul.  Text  book  in  the  History  of  Education. 
New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  191 1.  Vide  especially 
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Monroe,  Paul.  Source  Book  of  the  History  of  Education. 
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cerning education  and  discipline  as  they  are  found  in 
their  own  literature. 

Munroe,  James  Phinney.  The  Educational  Ideal.  Boston, 
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Montaigne.  Education  of  Children.  L.  E.  Rector,  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Contains  the  various  essays 
in  which  Montaigne  discusses  education. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline        65 

Montaigne.  See  any  editfion  of  his  complete  works  for  the 
Essays  from  which  we  have  quoted. 

Owen,  Robert.  Life  written  by  himself.  London,  Effing- 
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Owen,  Robert.  Life,  Times  and  Labors,  by  Lloyd  Jones. 
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to  get  Quick's  views  on  discipline. 

Reports.    U.  S.  Commissioner  of  E^lucation.    Consulted  to 
find  out  the  regulations  regarding  corporal  punishment^ 
in  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States.     For  specific 
references  see  Index  to  same. 

Rosenkranz,  J.  K.  F.  Philosophy  of  Education.  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1903.  For  discussion  of  pun- 
ishment see  par.  38-45. 

Rousseau.  Emile.  Abridged,  translated  and  annotated  by 
William  H.  Payne.    New  York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1893. 


66         The  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Concept  of  School  Discipline 

Read,  to  get  Rousseau's  professed  attitude  toward  the 
child  and  its  education. 

Rush,  Benjamin.  Essays.  Printed  by  Thomas  and  Samuel 
F.  Bradford,  Philadelphia,  1798.  See  Essays,  entitled 
"Thoughts  upon  the  Amusements  and  Punishments  which 
are  Proper  for  Schools,''  "Of  the  Mode  of  Education 
Proper  for  a  Repubhc,"  and  "Thoughts  Upon  Female 
Education." 

Sears,  Charles  H.  "Home  and  School  Punishments."  Ped- 
agogical Seminary,  Vol.  6,  1898- 1899,  pp.  159  ff.  Con- 
tains a  good  bibliography. 

St.  Cyran.  Barnard's  Journal.  Vol.  28,  pp.  5  fif.  A  brief 
account  of  St.  Cyran  and  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  Port 
Royal  Schools  were  conducted.       o 

Spencer,  Herbert.  Education.  Any  Edition.  Four  Es- 
says. The  Essay  on  Moral  Education  contains  Spencer's 
doctrine  of  natural  consequences. 

Steele,  Sir  Richard.  Barnard's  Journal.  Volume  33,  pp. 
345  fif,  contains  reprint  of  an  article  on  school  punish- 
ments which  appeared  in  Spectator  No.  20. 

Strumpell,  Ludwig.  Die  Padagogische  Pathologic  oder 
die  Lehre  von  den  Fehlern  der  Kinder.  Verlag  von  E. 
Ungleich,  Leipzig,  1899  and  19 10.  Shows  modern  atti- 
tude toward  child.  Enumerates  defects  found  in  children 
and  says  the  teacher  should  study  his  pupils  like  the  doc- 
tor studies  his  patients. 

Vittorino  Da  Feltre  and  other  Plumanist  Educators,  by 
William  Harrison  Woodward.  Cambridge:  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press,  1897.  Consulted  throughout  to  get  the  at- 
titude of  the  early  Humanists  toward  the  child  and  its  ed- 
ucation. Contains  translations  of  several  works  on  edu- 
cation from  which  we  have  quoted. 


14  DAY  USE 

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